Starting Again
by GreenCyberWolf
Summary: Luffy never reunited with the crew after the battle at Marine HQ and they all went their separate ways. Now the captain has to find them and somehow convince them to come back. But will the crew be so forgiving? Rating will go up in future chapters
1. First Stop

OK here we go again. I have to warn ya I have absolutely no idea where this is going. I have practically nothing planned past the first three chapters and this little project is going to be put on the back burners a lot unless I really have the drive to work on it. Not to worry though I will finish it eventually the problem is that I have no plans on when that will be. Don't be surprised if there is a long wait between updates. So just hang with me on this one.

This is kinda half AU and half canon. Everything is the same up to about Ch. 581-582 of the manga then after that is where the story will veer off. If anything interesting comes up in the future (which knowing Oda it will) I'll try to include it in my story as well but only if I can work it in. No promises.

I think that covers everything for now so…let's get this show on the road.

Disclaimer: One Piece does not belong to me. It belongs to the wonderful Oda-sama.

"talking"  
_'thinking'_

-  
**Chapter One  
****The First Stop  
-**

To all Marine officers above the rank Commodore

_**Status Report- Impel Down Incident**_

- Investigation of Warden Magellan's actions during the mass escape of Impel Down still ongoing. Warden Magellan continues to fulfill duties under observation.

- After a thorough investigation of Vice Warden Hannyabal's action's during the mass escape of Impel Down the Marine court requests removal of rank and privileges pending suspension.

_**Status of Impel Down Escapees **_

Majority of escaped prisoners still remain at large, whereabouts unknown. Prisoner's from Level 6 still at large, whereabouts unknown.

_Jinbei_ - Former Shichibukai, Level 6 escapee, Leader or Fishman Island, Last Known Location- Fishman Island

_Crocodile_- Former Shichibukai, Level 6 escapee, Former leader of the Baroque Works Agency, Mastermind behind the Alalbasta uprising, Last Known Location- Unknown

_Emporio Ivankov_- Commander in the Revolutionary Army, Level 6 escapee, Leader of the Kamabakka Kingdom, Last Known Location- West Blue

_Buggy the Clown_- Mastermind of Impel Down escape, Level 1 escapee, Former member of Gol D. Roger's crew, Last Known Location- Grand Line (may be traveling with Galdino AKA Mr. 3)

_Monkey D. Luffy_- Mastermind of Impel Down escape, Instigator of attack on Enies Lobby and Sabaody Archipelago, Last Known Location- Unknown (presumed dead)

**NOTE:** The Strawhat crew is to be dealt with at any cost and brought in to face the justice of the World Government. Caution should be used. 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro (190,000,000), 'Black Leg' Sanji (95,000,000), 'Demon Child' Nico Robin (120,000,000), Sogeking (60,000,000), 'Cyborg' Franky (80,000,000), 'Humming' Brook (75,000,000), 'Burglar Cat' Nami (30,000,000), Chopper (pet- 1,000,000).

Fleet Admiral Sengoku sighed deeply sitting back in his chair. He reread the status report once more before adding his signature to it and placing it in his finished stack of paperwork. He had a meeting with the Admirals and Vice Admirals in a while but now found himself with a few free minutes. That was a rare thing these days what with the havoc being caused around the Grand Line and the surrounding Blues. The death of Whitebeard and the rise of Blackbeard seemed to have thrown the world into a state of chaos even though those event had been a year ago. Not to mention the Level 6 escapees that were still on the loose even though their bounties had been reinstated finally at the insistence of Sengoku.

The Fleet Admiral rose from his chair and paced to the open window looking out onto the harbor. He still seemed to be deep in thought. Monkey D. Luffy was the focus of his concerns now the young pirate had been in the middle of everything since he first came on the scene in the East Blue. The rookie that the government passed off as a minor annoyance and not any true threat proved both Marine and government officials wrong.

It was true that the Marines thought him dead and his crewmates had scattered to the winds. Sengoku knew better, if what Garp had said about his grandson was true, then they were about to be proven wrong again. The Fleet Admiral hoped that by raising the heat on the Strawhat crew it would bring the captain out of hiding, wherever that may be, even after a year of searching the Grand Line and beyond Marine forces had yet to find any trace of him. There had been rumors of him showing up all down the Grand Line but by the time the Marines would arrive he was gone. It was like chasing a ghost, if Sengoku believed in such things. Which he didn't, no, this pirate was no ghost. He was out there somewhere just waiting to make his move.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was a warm sunny day out on the waves of the East Blue. The ocean was calm and there wasn't a cloud in sight. A lone ship cut through the water heading for a specific destination, on the bow stood a young man staring ahead searching for the first sight of land. The crew of the ship, which was composed of all women, went about their daily business. They were used to seeing the man with that faraway look in his eyes.

A tall black haired woman came up behind him, a confused look in her dark eyes. Her beautiful face frowned in worry. "Where are we going my love?" She asked in a sweet voice breaking the man's train of thought. He didn't reply right away but after a few seconds he turned his head slightly in her direction.

Dark eyes stared back at the woman. "We're going to find a nakama and the best place to start is this island." His answer was short and to the point. It seemed he was taking this very seriously. It wasn't that his nakama were weak but trouble just seemed to find them. He knew his crewmates could take care of themselves but he still wouldn't feel right until they were together again. That is if they still wanted to sail with him.

The woman frowned in confusion still but silently nodded behind the young man not liking the idea at all. _'Why should he want to find this person? Isn't my crew good enough for him?'_ Even after being with this man for all these months she couldn't understand his desire to find these crewmates of his.

The young man didn't notice the older woman's distressed look the only focus on his mind these last few weeks had been to find the ones he started this journey with. The people he called family. One person in particular wouldn't leave his mind and it was there he was starting.

A few minutes later the woman who was on lookout called down to him and the older black haired woman behind him to say that there was an island on the horizon. The young man tensed in anticipation and a small smile graced his lips as one thought entered his mind. _'Finally.'_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The bright sun shone down on the main street of the bustling little village. The people were busy buying and selling and just going about their business. That is until a young boy came running through the crowd out of breath and panicking. He ran as fast as he could toward the village security offices. The boy's mad dash made people look up to see what the fuss was about but seeing nothing unusual went back to their business.

An older man sat behind a desk behind a stack of paperwork. Scars of an old battle crisscrossed his face and continued under the standard uniform of the security forces of the island. He grumbled to himself about the work he still had to do, rubbing his scruffy moustache he sighed wishing he had something to take his mind off his work. Well as the saying goes be careful what you wish for. The door to his office burst open revealing a panting boy who leaned on the frame trying to catch his breath. The scarred old man jumped to his feet at the sudden entrance.

"Cabo, what are you doing here? What's going on?" The man demanded to know waiting impatiently for the boy to speak.

The youngster known as Cabo took a deep breath finally able to talk again. "Pirates! There are pirates heading for the island."

"What? What do you mean pirates?" It was surprising pirates hadn't been seen on the island for some time. Even the ones that hadn't gone running to the Grand Line after the news that Whitebeard had confirmed the existence of One Piece seemed to ignore their little island. Cabo had to jump aside as the old man dashed out the door and down the road catching the same attention the younger boy did but mere minutes ago.

He arrived at the docks to see an already sizable crowd gathered. The older man pushed his way forward to see the large ship getting closer. The crowd behind him prepared for a fight. They weren't about to let their island be taken over by pirates again. There seemed to be an air of anxiousness traveling through the group as the large ship gets closer.

The ship docked a short few minutes later but no one moved onboard for a few seconds then a body came flying from the deck of the ship and landed with a crash directly in front of the crowd of people. The young man stood up straight and most of the people assembled gasped at the young man. The old man could do nothing but gape at the familiar person in front of him. He had on baggy black shorts that came down to his knees and a blood red vest that opened to reveal a well toned body. His black hair was windblown and wild as the scarred old man remembered it and a straw hat hung loosely around his neck. The younger man smiled happily and raised a hand in greeting. "Hey pinwheel guy I…"

The boy didn't get any farther than that as a hand connected to his head sending his face slamming into the docks. "Monkey D. Luffy! What are you doing on this island?" Genzo asked panting for breath. He had punched the boy using all of his strength but it didn't look like it had fazed him when Luffy sat up picking splinters of wood out of his hair. Genzo scowled down at Luffy as the younger of the two stayed sitting on the dock.

"You filthy man, how dare you touch my Luffy-kun." Exclaimed a feminine voice from above the gathered crowd, looking up the people saw an extremely beautiful woman being lowered from the ship by a rather large snake. She had long flowing black hair that matched her dark eyes and was dressed in very fancy clothing.

Luffy stood up with a puzzled frown etched onto his face. "What was that for?" He was truly confused it was easily seen by Genzo and that was what kept him from hitting Luffy again.

"What do you think? I told you what would happen if you ever hurt her." Genzo told him with a deep frown.

Luffy looked up in surprise. "You mean Nami? What are you talking about? I didn't hurt her. Does that mean you've seen her, do you know where she is?" Luffy asked excitedly a big grin showing on his face. Hancock's eyes showed surprise it had been a long time since she had seen a grin that big on Luffy's face. Was this woman that important to him?

"As if I'd tell you that," Genzo scowled toward the boy. "You think you can just show back up here and I'd let you go off and hurt Nami again? Speaking of which why are you here?" He glanced questioningly at the young pirate and the unknown snake woman behind him. He was still not willing to forgive him so easily but the curiosity finally got to him.

Luffy looked at Genzo with determination on his face. "I'm here to find Nami and get her to come back." He said it so plainly that it took Genzo by surprise and he couldn't find anything to say against that. Luffy wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. He was going to convince Nami to sail with him again there was no question in his mind.

The scarred old man huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Thinking about it for a minute he looked the boy over. He still had that indomitable spirit within him but something was different. There was a dark part of the boy that hadn't been there before. Behind his eyes there was maturity and a deep seated pain that could not be completely hidden. In short Genzo realized that the young pirate who was so carefree when he was last on the island had grown up and it had taken something dramatic for it to happen. He stood back and nodded over his shoulder toward the outskirts of the village. "You should ask Nojiko." Was all he said to the rubber man.

"Thanks." Luffy said then started to walk through the crowd. The villagers made way for him some still not believing the savior of the island had come back. Others sent glares and angry mutters at him as he walked by. Luffy ignored it all only focused on his destination. Hancock on the other hand glared back just as heatedly at anyone who dared say anything about Luffy. She followed the young man closely and looked disdainfully around the small village as they both passed through.

The village hadn't changed much since Luffy had walked its streets last. The rubber man glanced around as he headed toward the tangerine grove. Villagers walking the streets stopped what they were doing to look up at the young man. They weren't as hostile as the ones at the dock, more surprised than anything.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Arriving at the tangerine orchard Luffy looked around. The small house stood not far away and around it stood the many tangerine trees. He could remember only coming here once after he had saved Nami from Arlong. From what he could remember it hadn't changed any since that time. At first Luffy didn't see anyone around but then a blue haired woman walked out of the trees with a basketful of the round tasty fruit. She started up the path heading to the small house. He grinned and started to walk towards her.

Nojiko didn't see him at first as she was concentrating on not spilling her tangerines all over the ground. When she did finally look up to see the straw hat boy come walking up to the house she stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him with her mouth hanging open. The basket slipped from her hands and the orange fruit rolled across the dirt path. "Luffy?" She nearly shouted in astonishment finally getting her mouth to work again. Nojiko started to run toward the boy, the tangerines forgotten, and Luffy smiled and waved at her.

"You son of a bitch!" The blue haired girl unexpectantly slammed her fist into Luffy's face sending him tumbling backwards a few feet. Nojiko straitened up and began to stalk towards the boy again. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead."

Immediately Hancock was between the enraged tangerine farmer and her precious Luffy. Her head was thrown back so far she was looking up. An angry look came over her face. "How dare a peasant like you hit my Luffy-kun?"

Nojiko wasn't intimidated and instead directed her glare towards Hancock. She was somewhat surprised at the woman coming to Luffy's defense but didn't back down. "Who the hell are you and what do you mean your Luffy-kun?" Nojiko looked this woman over. She was tall and had dark black eyes that matched the long fine black hair flowing down her back. She was beautiful Nojiko couldn't deny that but she could tell the older woman was about as arrogant as they come. What was Luffy doing with a someone like that?

Luffy stood back on his feet a slightly red welt already forming on his cheek. _'Nojiko must be really angry if she can hurt me just by a hit.'_ Then the second part of what she said hit him. "What do you mean dead?" Luffy asked as he pushed past the pirate empress to face Nojiko again.

"We saw the papers Luffy and Nami told us when she came back. Everyone thought you had died." Nojiko told him seeming to calm down a little.

The black haired boy looked shocked to hear this but thinking on it for a few seconds he really shouldn't have. He had read the papers himself and the Marines did have a half true account of what had happened. Luffy stared at Nojiko while he seemed to be thinking. "Where's Nami?" He finally asked her in a purposeful voice.

The now composed Nojiko gave a sigh and pointed Luffy in a direction. "You just missed her. She went up to the cliff to visit your grave." With that she gave the rubber man a slight push forwards. Then she bent down to start gathering the spilled tangerines.

Hancock started to quietly follow after Luffy but the younger pirate turned to her sharply. "Stay here Hancock I have to do this alone." The woman started to protest but one look from Luffy and she closed her mouth with a snap. Nojiko also watched Luffy head in the direction she pointed from the corner of her eye while she continued to pick up the fallen fruit.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Luffy headed toward the cliff overlooking the sea that he very vaguely remembered coming to before. The trees around him rustled in the breeze and he smiled at the refreshing coolness compared to the warm sunshine outside the shade of the trees. He felt excitement at the thought of seeing Nami again. It had been a long time since he had seen any of the crew. "It's been a whole year. I wonder if she's changed any." Luffy asked himself as his grin got wider.

The trees started to thin and he walked out into the open. Looking around the first thing to catch his attention was the orange haired young woman who was standing in front of two graves with her back to him. He noticed that the larger of the crosses had a fresh tangerine placed in front of it along with an old tattered looking pinwheel. To the side was a smaller cross that had another fresh tangerine placed at the base but also a small red wildflower. _'Is that my grave?'_ Luffy couldn't help but think as he took a step forward not trying to hide his presence anymore but the young woman still didn't notice him. At first Luffy was puzzled, Nami was usually more perceptive than this. It was then that the straw hat wearing boy saw the girl's shoulders shake with a quiet sob. _'She's crying for me.'_ Luffy frowned deeper. He didn't like it when Nami cried and he liked it even less when he was the cause.

Nami hadn't moved from her spot since Luffy had arrived but silent tears continued to roll down her face. The rubber man watched her shoulders tremble with each sob and he felt his heart sink with it. He had no idea when he chose his course of action that it would affect his navigator this much. Luffy's excitement from earlier turned to nervousness, he had no clue what to say to her after so long. He opened his mouth a few times but closed it in silence every time. Finally he achieved vocalization. "So you made that for me Nami?" He could slap himself for how stupid that sounded. That was not what he wanted his greeting to be after a year apart.

At the sound of the all too familiar voice Nami gasped and her whole body stiffened. Her head jerked up but she refused to turn around fearful of what she would find or not find. Her tears slowed to a stop and she started to tremble all over. Taking a deep breath, teary brown eyes opened wide in astonishment and confusion, she gathered herself enough to turn around to face the voice she never thought she'd hear again. The red vest, straw hat, and his dark piercing stare is what greeted the orange haired woman upon landing her eyes on the man she had thought was dead. "L…Luffy?" It came out as a whisper barely making it past her lips. She was almost afraid that if said too loud it might make him disappear altogether. Suddenly Nami found it hard to breathe as Luffy took a step toward her.

Luffy offered a reassuring smile as his eyes met his navigators and for a moment he saw a flash of some emotion he had never seen in those deep brown eyes before. His smile slipped though as he watched Nami's eyes slide shut as her legs gave way beneath her and she passed out on the ground.

=O=O=

So tell me what ya think. Hate it? Love it? …Somewhere in-between? Ya gotta let me know if ya want me to continue. I don't know when I'll update this but reviews will encourage my work ethic ;)

The next chapter I can tell ya is a flashback focusing on Nami's homecoming


	2. Arriving Back Home

Welcome to the second chapter. This is going to be a flashback into Nami's return home and also I will be introducing a character that will come into play not too far in the future. This isn't an action based chapter but with this fic there is a lot of back story to get through so ya just gotta deal. As for the first chapter what I had before wasnt really finished it was more like a feeler to see how the idea would come over for you guys. I'd like to thank drayade and AnimeMaster24 for their advice.

Ok let me get some stuff out of the way right now before it gets out of hand.

-Yes the first chapter has been redone-No I don't plan on editing every chapter to that extent what you get is what you get after this (aside from spelling/grammar)  
-No Sengoku is not going to be any real part of the story (as of right now) at most he is going to represent the Marine reactions to what Luffy and co. are doing  
-Yes there will be romance but nothing major for the first few chapters  
-No I will not tell you who is gonna hook up with who (though anyone who knows me should be able to figure it out)  
-No the Impel Down escapees/ Newkamas are not going to be a part of the story at most they might have a cameo spot somewhere  
-No not all Strawhats are going to be found on their home islands that would be totally boring and pointless (right now I'm trying to establish a base to work from)

That should cover most people's curiosity for now anything else feel free to ask though I can't promise an answer if it spoils the story too much.

Disclaimer: One Piece is not owned by me

"talking"  
_'thinking'_

-  
**Chapter 2  
Arriving Back Home  
****-**

The rain poured from the sky, the wind whipping through the air trying to rip apart anything it could. Dangerous looking black clouds made the usually beautiful evening sky turn dark and cold and the wind was becoming even stronger. The waves crashing on the ocean were unforgiving of a small ship that was trying to battle through the storm. There was only one person onboard attempting to steer the vessel safely through the water and even for a small boat like that it was some work for a lone person to do.

Nami let out a long string of curses as she fought against the storm on her wave battered ship as an already bad situation continued to get worse. The storm proved to be unavoidable and the Marines had been chasing her, so not having much of a choice Nami had sailed headfirst into the tempest. "Damn it!" The orange haired girl cried out over the wind as the ocean's waves seemed determined to sink the little craft. The force of the water against the rudder caused the handle to slip from her hands and smash into her already injured side making the girl cry out in pain. The large gash, courtesy of a Marine sword, ran deep into her right side. Nami hadn't been able to treat it yet because there wasn't any medical supplies on the ship and the food had run out the previous day.

"If only I had been able to get those supplies." Nami muttered grabbing the rudder's handle again to keep the ship on course. She thought back to the hurried escape she had made from Ussop's home village and the box of food and other essentials Kaya generously offered to get the navigator back home. Unfortunately neither Chopper, Nami, or Ussop could have known that a brand new Marine outpost had been built on the small island.

Nami hadn't been at the village for more than two days when she was found out by the Marines and had to make a run for it. Luckily for her crewmates they had remained unidentified. Ussop was only known as Sogeking and without his mask would not have been pegged for a Strawhat pirate. The bounty for Chopper still only showed him in Brain point so as long as the young reindeer didn't wear his pink hat and stayed in Walk or Heavy point he was safe as well. Not being near as lucky Nami had to make a hurried escape from Syrup village and that meant leaving the supplies behind and also that meant having to fight through a couple lines of Marines.

The navigator yelped as with her lapse of concentration her feet slid on the wet deck and she fell to her knees. "I have to be getting near Cocoyashi by now. I never thought my return home would be like this." Nami muttered as she leaned on the handle of the rudder trying to rest a bit. Fighting against the ocean waves was tiring and Nami was exhausted. Luckily even in a storm like this traveling these waters were like second nature to her. Looking up Nami smiled a little when she saw a low gray silhouette in the distance that indicated an island. She couldn't reach it soon enough in her opinion, the wound in her side sent a constant pain down her body, she hadn't eaten anything since the day before, and this rain was freezing cold. Nami allowed herself a small tired chuckle. "Home at last."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Nojiko was sitting in Genzo's office while the storm raged outside. She had been caught in the rain and was now waiting for it to die down so she could go home. It wasn't that the blue haired young woman didn't enjoy talking to him but one more story about the 'good old days' and Nojiko was gonna scream. The sake helped calm her down but it could only go so far. It was probably the only reason she hadn't already run out the door, hurricane force winds or no. Pouring herself another cup Nojiko listened quietly to the rattling of the shutters to Genzo's window and the rain pattering on the roof. She hadn't even taken her first sip when the door to the office burst open startling the pair. A man from the village stood in the doorway allowing the wind and rain to invade the previously dry room.

The guy was breathing hard like he had run all the way from the shoreline against the wind. "Genzo you have to come to the docks, there's a small boat out on the water." The words came out in huffs as the villager tried to get his breath back.

Genzo didn't move. "Hold on Ikura, catch your breath then tell me what this is about." He told the panting man calmly. Ikura took a few deep breaths then spoke again this time much calmer.

"There's a small boat headed for the island. It doesn't look like one of our boats that might have come loose. It's much too small to be either a Marine or pirate ship either." Ikura waited to hear what Genzo wanted to do after he had told them his message.

After a moment Genzo stood up and headed toward the docks through the wind and rain that had started to pick up again. "There's little we can do from the shore but if they manage to make it to the island they will most likely need some help."

"Hey wait for me." Nojiko called after him and she quickly followed, her curiosity piqued about this stranger's boat that would be out sailing in weather like this. It didn't take the three long to reach the docks even with the storm blowing around them. Some of the village men had gathered at the edge of the water in case they were needed, they had all been watching the progress of the vessel as it battled against the ocean waters.

"Genzo there you are. I was just about to come see what was taking Ikura so long." An older grey haired man said as Genzo and Nojiko arrived on the scene.

Suddenly a huge wave crashed over the boat making the spectators on shore gasp in alarm thinking that the small ship had been lost to the sea. "There's no way they could have made that in such a small ship." Ikura said staring out at the raging ocean.

When the wave receded everyone was surprised that not only was the boat still upright it was even closer than before. After a few more minutes the craft was given a final heave by the sea and was tossed forward violently crashing into the planks of the dock. The front end of the ship was stuck fast in the broken boards and the back still sat in the choppy water.

Genzo was the first to move when it was evident that the person sailing the boat wasn't coming off. Stepping carefully over the broken planks of wood he hopped over the side and onto the boat looking for anyone that might be sailing it. He didn't spot anyone on the front part of the ship so he slowly made his way toward the one room cabin in the center of the deck. Hearing footsteps behind him Genzo turned sharply only to see that Nojiko had followed him on board.

"I thought you might need a hand." She smiled and walked toward him.

The scarred old man hesitated but finally nodded. "Alright but stay behind me. We don't know who's on this ship or who it belongs to." Genzo ignored the girl's triumphant smile from getting her way and began to make his way toward the back of the boat with Nojiko in tow.

As the pair made it around the tiny cabin Genzo suddenly stopped causing Nojiko to almost run into his back. "Genzo what are you doing don't stop so suddenly." The young woman complained, looking around the older man's shoulder to see what made him stop. Her mouth hung open for a moment as she gasped in disbelief.

Leaning heavily on the rudder's handle and barely conscious was a very familiar orange haired girl. "Nami?" Both Nojiko and Genzo exclaimed in astonishment as they rushed over to kneel next to the nearly unconscious girl since she had not yet risen from the floor. Her breath came out in heavy pants and she was shivering from the cold rain pouring from the sky.

"Nami, oh my God!" Nojiko cried noticing her sister's bloodstained clothes from where the gash in her side had opened up again. Genzo had also noticed the injury and reached over to help pull the girl up.

Nami winced as she was moved upright and wobbled unsteadily on her feet. Nojiko grabbed onto the younger girl and half supported her as Genzo led them off the boat. "Nojiko…Genzo?" Nami seemed to become more aware of her surroundings as they moved toward the front of the boat.

Nojiko glanced over at her younger sister with a worried look in her eyes. "Nami what happened to you?" She asked but Nami didn't answer already slipping into unconsciousness.

"Hey Genzo, who is it? What happened?" One of the villagers yelled out over the wind when they saw Genzo come back to the front side of the boat. When Nojiko stepped into sight half carrying Nami on her shoulder there were a lot of murmurs among the crowd gathered. Genzo reached down from the docks and took Nami from Nojiko so that the blue haired woman could climb off the boat safely.

Now carrying Nami in his arms Genzo walked off the docks being careful not to trip over the broken planks of wood. Going through the villagers he could hear the worry and bewilderment in their voices as well as quite a few questions which he had no way to answer. Nojiko ran ahead to the medical clinic to let the doctor know they were coming.

Bursting through the clinic door and breathless from running Nojiko gave the good doctor a scare when she rushed into the building. "Doctor I don't have time to explain everything but Genzo is on his way here with Nami, she needs help." Nojiko said all in a rush.

"Wait, what do you mean Nami's here?" The doctor was shocked at the news that Nami had suddenly shown up but within moments Genzo followed Nojiko into the clinic with the injured orange haired girl. The old man quickly stood up and motioned Genzo to a bed on the other side of the room where he could lay her down. "Nojiko go get the privacy screen from the corner." The old man ordered as he stepped up next to the bed. Once the screen was set up around Nami the doctor almost had to push Genzo away so he could tend to Nami's injuries. He allowed Nojiko to stay close by while Genzo had to deal with a few of the villagers that had followed them from the docks.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After about an hour the old doctor came out from behind the privacy screen cleaning his hands off with a towel. He walked over to where Genzo and Nojiko were sitting in the area dubbed the 'waiting room' though it was really just a section on the other side of the large room. "She'll be fine. There was a pretty nasty wound in her side that I can only assume came from a sword. It wasn't treated properly and got infected so now she has a bit of a fever, though it isn't serious." Genzo and Nojiko both sighed in relief and relaxed.

The storm raged on into the night not letting up even a little. The glass panes of the windows shook violently as the wind blew past the medical clinic but Nami slept through it all. Nojiko had been invited to stay at the clinic for the night so she settled down on the bed next to Nami while Genzo went back to his office.

By the next morning the thunderstorm was gone and the sun was out, it was a beautiful day. Genzo, who had gone back to his office earlier, was eating breakfast with Nojiko and the doctor in a corner of the clinic. "So you told the villagers to wait till this morning before you would tell them anything but what are you going to tell them?" Nojiko asked as she was finishing up her breakfast.

"I'm not sure," admitted Genzo as he stood up, "but I have to tell them something." He started walking to the door with the doctor behind him. Nojiko sat back looking thoughtfully into her coffee cup.

On the other side of the room Nami began to stir awake, the movement catching Nojiko's attention. Suddenly the orange haired girl shot upwards in bed and cried out in pain as the abrupt movement caused the injury in her side to hurt even more. Nami looked around in a slight panic not recognizing her surroundings at first. Nojiko jumped up from her spot at the small table and rushed over to calm her younger sister. "Nami it's okay now." She said sitting beside the injured girl. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?"

Nami looked over at the blue haired girl in confusion still somewhat disoriented. "Nojiko…what are you…I thought…" Then slowly the memories started coming back to her. Nojiko watched as a range of emotions crossed her sister's face finally landing on something between pain and sadness.

Nojiko looked on with concern. "Nami you should lay back down you still have a fever and you don't want to make you injuries worse." She said placing her hand on Nami's shoulder trying to get her to lie back on the pillows.

Finally allowing her sister to push her down to the bed Nami stared up at the ceiling, after a moment of uncomfortable silence the younger girl spoke. "He's gone Nojiko." Nami's eyes shifted away from her sister, the deep brown glazed over with unshed tears. "Luffy's gone." This caused Nojiko to jerk to attention and look down at the younger girl.

It had been in the papers some months ago, the reports of the battle at Marineford, but Nojiko couldn't believe it. After all it wouldn't be the first time the Marines had left things out or just outright lied about things like that. "Are you positive about that Nami? I mean that kid doesn't seem the type to die so easily." She tried to smile but even as she said this Nojiko knew that Nami would never come back unless something major had happened. She just couldn't believe the guy that freed the island and more importantly her sister was dead.

Nami just gave Nojiko a look that said she had already been through these very thoughts. "We lost him and we waited but he never came back. Luffy wouldn't just not come back to us." Nami said softly barely keeping herself from breaking down.

Nojiko frowned sadly and started to say something but stopped when Nami turned away from her obviously ending the conversation. "Everything will turn out alright Nami you'll see. It will just take some time." Nojiko said to her younger sister placing a comforting hand on Nami's arm before getting up to find Genzo.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It didn't take too long for the news to spread throughout the entire village and soon Genzo was being bombarded with questions by just about everyone. He wouldn't allow them in the medical clinic since he knew Nami didn't need all that. The villager's curiosity didn't last long though seeing as something appeared on the horizon that shifted their focus. A Marine ship pulled up to the docks that had been repaired just that morning.

A pompous and arrogant looking Marine captain stepped off the gang plank first followed by thirty or so Marines soldiers. His graying hair was cut short and he had a neatly trimmed goatee. "You're early Hiroki and you don't usually go off your schedule. What do want?" Genzo questioned stepping up to meet the captain.

"We got a call from one of our ships that was in pursuit of a dangerous pirate. They lost her not too far away from this area yesterday during that storm and since we were already on our way here," Hiroki shrugged carelessly not noticing the way Genzo stiffened at the mention of the pirate. The captain pulled out a bounty poster from the inside of his coat and handed it to the other man. "Perhaps she took cover on your island somewhere."

Genzo took the poster already knowing what to expect but he was shocked to see that it wasn't Nami's old poster but a new one, complete with a new bounty. "Th…thirty million!" He exclaimed staring down at the piece of paper. _'That's ten million more than Arlong.'_

Hiroki sneered in contempt at the bounty poster. "Yes I thought it a bit much too. There's no reason for a piece of pirate trash like her to garner such a price when I would be more than happy to bring her in myself for free." The Marine captain then lowered his voice so that only Genzo could hear, as if he were sharing a secret. "Of course those few days it would take to return to base I'd have her to myself and that would be well worth it."

Almost physically restraining himself from punching the Marine captain Genzo ground his teeth together so as not to give Nami away. "Yes a man such as you would believe that." He managed to say around clenched teeth and make it sound polite.

"Well enough chit-chat if you don't mind Genzo we'll just check around, make sure that filthy pirate isn't hiding around here somewhere. The safety of the public is one of our top priorities you know." Hiroki motioned over his shoulder to the squad of Marines and they started to move past the two men. "You know Genzo I have been running check-ins with this island for some time now, ever since that nuisance Arlong was captured by my fleet, and I can't help but notice a certain animosity towards us. I really would like for us to be on better terms so shall we head to your office to discuss this while my men check over the town. I happen to know you have some wine stashed there." Hiroki placed a hand on Genzo's shoulder to direct him towards the security office while Marine soldiers investigated every building in the village.

The doctor glanced up when a sudden hard knock on the door interrupted his work. Walking over he opened the door to find two young Marine soldiers standing there. One seemed to be somewhat more businesslike and the other wore an apologetic smile. It was the latter who spoke first. "Excuse us sir, we are searching the town for a dangerous pirate that might be hiding somewhere on this island."

The old doctor rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses already knowing something like this was going to happen. "Alright, I know the drill by now, just don't disturb anything." He stepped aside and the one who had spoken walked past and into the room.

The other man pulled out Nami's bounty poster and showed it to the doctor. "Have you seen this pirate lurking around here anywhere? We think she might have taken shelter from the storm on this island. It would be in your town's best interest to cooperate with us."

It was a thinly veiled threat but the old doctor didn't waver. "No, can't say that I've seen any pirates around here." In the background the wrinkled old man could hear the other soldier opening doors and poking through things and then his footsteps coming closer.

"It's all clear." The young Marine said coming back to the door. "There's nothing but medical supplies." He told his partner before bowing slightly to the old man. The other Marine simply gave a hard stare into the room himself but voiced no objections to his partner moving on.

After the pair had gone to the next building the doctor allowed himself a sigh of relief as he slid down into his chair. "That was much too close." He muttered to himself. "I'm getting too old for this. If they had come a few minutes earlier I'm sure that Nami would have been found out. As it is she should be safe for now."

Meanwhile at a well tended tangerine grove outside the village Nojiko stood next to a window in her small white house looking out in the direction of the village. Hopefully the Marines wouldn't become suspicious, it was a good thing the men who were fixing the docks had spotted the Marine ship when they did and alerted Genzo to it. It was Nojiko who suggested to the doctor that she bring Nami to the house, during these Marine visits they hardly ever came all the way up to the orchard.

"I'm sorry Nojiko." Nami said from her position sitting up on the bed. "You'd probably be arrested also if they find out you're helping me. I didn't want to put the village in this position."

The blue haired young woman turned away from the window and toward Nami. "What are you talking about? We're family and anyway there's no way those Marines are going to find you. They only come around the island every other month or so, if that, and they hardly ever come out here."

Nami was quiet on the other side of the room. She played absentmindedly with a loose string on the blanket she was sitting on and didn't look up at her sister until the bed next to her indented as the springs squeaked in protest. "I just don't know what to do now." Nami said drawing her knees up to her chest. She winced slightly at the movement but ignored it. "I had promised Luffy I would lead him to the One Piece, to complete his dream, and somewhere along the way I promised myself that my dream couldn't be completed until I brought him there."

Nojiko sighed not really able to offer any comfort to her sister besides an open ear. "Maybe you should lay back down Nami." She said noticing the pink tinge to Nami's cheeks that suggested she still had a higher than normal temperature. Placing a cool hand to the younger girl's forehead she nodded to herself. "Yep, definitely still warm. Well the first thing to do is get some food in you and then start your recovery." Nojiko said with a determined smile referring to the earlier remark. She stood up and walked over to the kitchen to prepare dinner. "One thing's for sure Nami you really know how to liven this sleepy little village up." For the first time in a long while Nami felt herself really smile again.

=O=O=

OK the end of chapter 2. Like I mentioned before I have no idea when I'll be able to put up chapter 3, it could be next week (not likely) or a few months from now. At any rate I know this chapter is a bit slow paced but this kind of story has a lot of build up to it. Also until Luffy is ready to reemerge into the spotlight his actions are going to be limited. Also I have no idea how long it would actually take to get from Syrup Village to Cocoyashi so for this story it will take 3 days.

Next chapter we get back to the present day story. Nami has a choice to make, will she still follow Luffy and can she forgive him? Or has the Strawhat captain lost his navigator?


	3. The Navigator's Decision

Hey back again, yea. XD This chapter was such a huge pain to write but I got through it, mainly intact. I really hate writers block. Luffy was probably the biggest challenge this time around since his attitude during this chapter and the next is basically going to be the standard for the rest of the story. I wanted him to be a little matured but still able to be seen as Luffy. (I leave it up to ya'll to tell me how that worked out) Obviously the death of his brother opened his eyes to see that the world isn't all fun and games so he isn't going to be as happy-go-lucky as he once was. I really wanted to introduce Nami to Hancock this chapter but in the end thought it would fit better into the next chapter so ya'll have to wait. A note on that though, I have no love for Hancock. I find her to be a spoiled brat, conceited, and selfish and thus will be portrayed as such in my story. Sorry to you Hancock fans out there. Anyhow enough rambling from the author.

Disclaimer: I have no money please don't sue

"talking"  
_'thinking'_

-  
**Chapter 3  
The Navigator's Decision  
**-

It was late afternoon by the time Nami woke up again, the orange haired girl could tell by the sunlight slanting in through the window. Blinking once, twice, she slowly sat up in her bed. "What happened? How did I get back to the house?" Nami asked herself as she placed a hand against her head. "Was that just a dream? It was so real." She looked around the bedroom for any indication of what had happened. The room itself was pretty small and bare only having the bed, a small desk, and her maps rolled up neatly in the corner. Suddenly the low murmur of voices caught her attention coming from the other room. One she easily recognized as Nojiko. The other made Nami's breath catch in her throat as she swallowed a surprised cry. _'That was just a dream, right?'_ Hurriedly pushing the covers back Nami stood up and made her way over to the door stopping to listen quietly to the conversation going on outside.

"So Luffy, are you sure that's what you want to do?" Nojiko asked setting down her tea and looking up at the young man. "From the rumors I've heard it's going to be very difficult."

The black haired pirate nodded. "Yep, that's what I decided. I don't care how dangerous it is. I need Nami to come with me though. She's my nakama."

Nojiko smiled across the table to the younger teen, he had definitely changed from the scrawny seventeen year old kid that she had last seen. Luffy was sitting across from her at the table and hadn't moved since bringing Nami back. The tall woman with the long black hair had been sent back to her crew by the younger man so that the others on her ship would know what was going on. At first Nojiko wasn't sure if she would go, the woman seemed to be adamant about staying by Luffy's side. With only a few words from him though she blushed and tittered away in something like a daze. The lavender haired tangerine farmer was silently thankful for that, the arrogant woman had been grinding on Nojiko's last nerve. She started to ask Luffy something else but never got the chance as someone new entered the conversation.

"So I guess I was wrong after all, it wasn't a dream." Nami suddenly spoke up leaning against her door. Neither Luffy or Nojiko had seen her come out. She was glaring in Luffy's direction with her arms crossed. "You're pretty loud for a dead person."

Looking between a frowning Luffy and a glaring Nami, Nojiko suddenly felt the need to be somewhere else. These two had a lot of talking to do and she thought it best to leave them to it. "Well then it looks like you two have some things to talk about, so I'll just be out in the orchard." With that the older woman slipped away from the table and out the door with a sigh of relief. You could cut the tension in that room with a knife.

Luffy continued to look Nami over, he didn't even notice Nojiko's departure. Seeing the orange haired beauty again made his heart pick up speed. There was something different about her and it wasn't just her looks. Though she did look different than before. Around her wrist Nami wore the gold bracelet from her sister but of course the familiar log pose was gone. The navigator had on a short pair of blue jean shorts and a pink and black tank top. The young man blushed lightly as his eyes moved upward, Nami had definitely filled out in some very obvious aspects, her tight clothes showed that off nicely. She had also grown her hair out, the orange tresses reaching down past her shoulders now. Her hair had a slight wave to it and although Luffy didn't say anything out loud, he liked it.

Looking into her eyes Luffy realized that they were different than before their year apart. There was obvious confusion swirling around in her chocolaty brown orbs but beyond that he couldn't see the light anymore. One of the things he had always loved about his navigator was the fiery spark in her eyes, whether it was over money or her tangerines or in a fight, Nami always had that spark. It was all but gone now and the brown of her eyes looked dull without it. Had he been the one to cause that light to go out?

Both Luffy and Nami stayed silent for a while, neither knowing what to say to the other. Of course that never stopped Luffy for long. "I'm glad your okay Nami, you were asleep for awhile." He grinned toothily at her.

The orange haired young woman had to fight the urge to knock his teeth down his throat. _'Okay? Okay! How could he think I would be okay when a guy I thought was dead for a year suddenly shows up apparently alive and healthy as ever?'_ Nami grit her teeth and gave the young man a dark look. _'How could he think we could just pick up again right where we left off?'_ There were so many thoughts fumbling around in her head Nami didn't notice that she had been staring silently at him for awhile. Luffy's wide grin slowly faded into a smaller smile as she continued to silently stare at him.

He looked almost exactly the same as she remembered him. He still wore his usual sandals with a pair of baggy black shorts and his red vest. The vest was unbuttoned allowing Nami to see the toned muscles of Luffy's abs and chest which caused the girl to blush a light pink color before hastily moving her eyes upward, though that view wasn't much better either. His short scruffy black hair was left to blow in the breeze from an opened window, his treasured straw hat hung down his back from the string around his neck. Also hanging around his neck was what Nami recognized as the hat band from Ace's cowboy hat. The smiling face and frowning face decoration rested just below Luffy's collarbone. The orange haired young woman couldn't help the sad frown that graced her lips at the reminder of Luffy's older brother.

Staring up at his face Nami noticed that Luffy had lost the childish, innocent, look he always used to wear around the crew and instead his features had become more defined. Nami's blush darkened as her gaze traveled over his chiseled jaw line up to his coal black eyes that were staring back at her with an intense steady look. Even behind his small smile he no longer had the blissful carefree gaze she was used to seeing in his eyes, now there was a far too familiar look of responsibility and a great weight staring back at her behind those dark depths. The gaze Luffy had locked onto her made a chill run down Nami's back from the familiarity. It was a look she had seen on her own face countless times when she was working for Arlong. Looking up at him Nami could see that the young man before her was no longer ignorant of the world around him. He could no longer go on depending on his good luck alone with that 'consequences-be-damned' attitude of his. For some reason, she couldn't quite grasp why, Nami felt sad at the loss of the boy-captain from so long ago.

Realizing that he was waiting for her to say something Nami looked down, tearing her gaze away from her formally missing captain. She became somewhat nervous as his intense look never wavered from her and the sudden onslaught of emotion from seeing Luffy again caused the navigator's carefully controlled feelings to loosen, which scared her. So being nervous and scared Nami automatically became angry. "It's good to see you alive Luffy." She said in an icy tone. "Now leave."

Luffy frowned deeply at the navigator, her face was still turned away from him. "I can't do that yet, I came to find you, I-"

"You found me. Congratulations. You can leave now." She said, brushing past his shoulder obviously done talking with him. She got halfway to the door before the younger pirate stopped her.

"I know your mad at me and I probably deserve it. I'm sorry. I didn't think anybody would be hurt this way." Luffy turned to face her, his eyes silently asking for her to face him. He saw her body stiffen at his words but she didn't turn.

"You actually think a 'sorry' is gonna cut it? You left us Luffy." Nami's voice was softer than before. In fact she didn't sound all that mad anymore, now it was just sad. "You left us twisting in the wind. None of us knew where you were, if you planned on coming back, or if you were even alive. All we had to go on were Marine news reports and the wild rumors that started spreading after the war. Which both sounded pretty unbelievable." Nami shrugged, still looking forward. "You said you didn't want us to be hurt, Luffy, how do you think it felt when we heard you were dead?"

Luffy stood in silence just staring at Nami's turned back. He had no answer for that, he never expected his nakama would believe the Marine's story, but he supposed with no way to deny it they were left with little choice. Luffy knew this wouldn't be easy from the start and Nami's words convinced him even more of this. But, before he could say anything to her, Luffy looked up to see the door swing shut. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration and sagged into one of the kitchen chairs. Obviously his disappearing act had caused more trouble for his crew than he thought it would.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Nami could hear the ocean breaking against the shore from where she sat in the dirt and leaned back against a broken down old wall. Her blue jean shorts were getting dirty from the dust covering the ground but she didn't really care. Her eyes narrowed and then clenched shut as her hand ran over the fabric of her shirt and stopped just above her heart. _'Why now? Why does he show himself now? Everything was just starting to get better.'_ She was lying to herself of course but there was no way she would admit even to Nojiko that she was far from over Luffy's death…or now supposed death. The young orange haired woman shook her head to get rid of those thoughts and opened her eyes to look around the empty space surrounding her. There was nothing here but a large flat concrete slab that was cracked and broken in some places and a few torn down stone walls. What remained of the formerly intimidating Arlong Park.

"How did I wind up back here anyway?" Nami frowned to herself in confusion. She hadn't really been paying any attention to her surroundings when she left Luffy back at the house. Her feelings were becoming too much to handle, when she had seen him again after waking up the first thing she had wanted to do was run up and hug him, but that feeling quickly shifted to anger and confusion. The fact that she had wanted to hug the moron first above everything else also unnerved her. The only thing she could think to do was get away from him. So after leaving the house she started walking and didn't stop until she found that her feet had led her here of all places. She hadn't returned to this place since Luffy had brought it down and set her free.

After all this time why had Luffy shown up again? This seemed to be a constant thought now that Nami had calmed down. She had a few guesses and if she were completely honest with herself, she wanted to be right. There was no way she would admit it though. A warm breeze came in from the ocean and blew Nami's hair into her eyes, she absently tucked the wayward strands behind her ear and looked out over the water. _'It's going to rain soon, tonight at the earliest.'_ The girl sighed. After the Grand Line's insane weather patterns predicting any other weather was almost boring in comparison. Suddenly footsteps coming from behind alerted the navigator to someone else's presence.

"Nami, there you are. I've been looking all over for you." Nojiko walked up the rarely used path and stopped at her younger sister's shoulder. "What are you doing here? Weren't you talking to Luffy?" The older woman asked eyeing the surroundings in curiosity. This wasn't really her favorite spot on the island either.

The younger girl sighed but didn't look up. "I was but…"

"But, you got mad and walked out, hm?" Sighing again Nami nodded, her sister really did know her too well. Nojiko kneeled down next to Nami and looked over out of the corner of her eye. "I guess I can't blame you, hell, I was pretty ticked off when I saw him too. But," the lavender haired woman looked thoughtful for a moment as she stared ahead, "he had a good reason for tricking you like that." Nojiko let a small smile show on her lips as she looked down at her sister. Nami wasn't looking at her but over at the spot where the large building had once stood, her eyes looked a million miles away. "I can still remember that day, you know." The older woman chuckled lightly at the memory and Nami didn't have to ask what day she was talking about. "You were so angry at those guys for coming after you but that clueless kid didn't care how mad you got. He wanted his… what was the word he used again?"

"Nakama." Nami supplied quietly knowing full well that Nojiko knew what Luffy had said. "He called me his nakama, even after all the trouble I put him through." She was quiet for awhile, seeming to think about it. Luffy had taken her back, no questions asked, when she had stolen Merry and ran back to Arlong. _'Luffy's always been like that but this is a different situation. Back then I had Cocoyashi to think about.'_ Nami sighed and glanced over at her big sister in curiosity. _'Nojiko did say he had a good reason and I suppose it wouldn't hurt to hear him out.'_ Nami silently admitted.

The two of them sat there for awhile longer while Nojiko glanced down at the silent figure beside her. Nami seemed to be debating with herself but then clearly deciding something the younger girl stood up and dusted herself off. Nojiko gave a grin as she watched Nami turn and start back toward the village, hopefully Luffy would be able to pull through for them again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After Nami walked out on him Luffy had sat and thought for a while about what it was he was going to do. He couldn't leave Nami behind, he needed her to come sail with him again. Something told him to give Nami some space at the moment so he was now headed through the small village back to the ship.

Luffy passed by the small shops and stalls of Cocoyashi as he made his way down the main street. Most of the stalls were beginning to close up for the day but enough people were out to still gave him weird looks, like before he ignored them. The boy's mind was occupied with trying to figure out a way to convince Nami to come back. His attention was suddenly drawn to an old grey haired woman that was standing outside her small bookshop, she had a broom in her hand, and had obviously just finished sweeping up. Her silver hair was up in a bun and she had a kind face.

The old woman gestured for him to come over and so Luffy walked up to her. "You look tired young man, would you like to come in for some tea?"

The black haired pirate looked at the elderly person carefully. "You aren't angry or gonna try and hit me are you? Not like it hurts but it gets annoying after awhile."

The grey haired shop keeper chuckled lightly at Luffy's cautiousness and waved the young man inside the shop. Once Luffy had followed her through the door he was ushered over to a small corner table where a steaming pot of tea was sitting. Looking around, the first thing the young captain noticed was that there were books everywhere. It wasn't unusual since this was a bookshop but even so Luffy was sure this was an exceptional number of them. They lined and were stacked neatly on several high wooden shelves that stood against the walls of the little shop.

"You're the one that Nami-chan sailed off with some time ago, correct?" The elderly woman asked while pouring two cups of tea for herself and Luffy.

Luffy took his cup and gave a small smile in thanks to the old woman. "Yeah, Nami's my nakama. Right now I think she's mad at me though." He stared curiously into his tea cup for a minute before glancing up at the lady across the table from him. "Hey Obaa-san, this isn't poisoned is it?"

"Good heavens no." The old shopkeeper laughed loudly, the laugh lines around her mouth deepening. After the chuckles died down and as if to prove her point she took a sip from her own cup. "Though certainly you didn't make yourself very many friends after what happened with Nami-chan." Luffy opened his mouth to defend himself but was silenced by the woman's raised hand. "Now that is more than I know nor do I wish to know. What has happened, has happened, and cannot be undone." The woman continued to drink her tea peacefully as Luffy nodded seriously.

The two sat in silence for several long moments drinking from their cups. "You must not be fooled." The grey haired woman said suddenly over the rim of her cup. "I have known Nami-chan since she very small and I know that she still wishes to set sail again, even though I'm sure she has denied it many times."

"I tried asking her before but she wouldn't let me finish." Luffy said, draining the last of his tea. His eyes shifted over to some rice cakes that sat on the serving platter and he grabbed a few, making sure to leave one or two for the grey haired shopkeeper.

The old lady sighed and shook her head as if she knew that would possibly be the outcome. "Of course you must understand that when Nami-chan returned to us she was hurt badly-"

Luffy's frown turned to a scowl. "Yeah, Nojiko told me about that and some Marine bastard coming after her too."

Again the old woman shook her head but this time at Luffy. "While that is true, the hurt I am speaking of goes deeper than just a physical wound. I believe you know this already, young man."

Looking slightly surprised and then thoughtful Luffy silently nodded. "I know. It's my fault she's sad now."

"Nami-chan is a very stubborn and driven girl, as I'm sure you've figured out by now. I have never seen her stop in this way before." The older woman seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment before continuing. "Even when Bellemere, bless her soul, was killed and young Nami-chan was taken by those horrible pirates she was always going forward to achieve something."

Luffy blinked at this new information, for a moment he wondered why his supposed death would cause Nami to stop moving toward her dreams. Nothing that had happened to them before had caused her to even waver on her ambition. So why now and why him?

"She manages to hide it well, becoming a thief has taught her that much, but there are a few of us that can still see through her. Slowly but surely it is eating her up inside. Nami-chan is not like any of the people in this village, she is not meant to stay in one place too long, there is no happiness for her here." The woman, having said her piece, watched as the information filtered into Luffy's brain.

Looking very serious the black haired young man thought back on what he had known and what he had learned about his navigator. Suddenly an idea began to form in his mind. A smile spread across the rubber man's face as he stood abruptly. "Thank you Obaa-san, and don't worry, I'll make Nami happy again." With that he dashed out of the book shop and back up the road leading to the tangerine orchard, maybe Nami would be back by now.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Nami slowed her pace when she got near the orchard, there was no reason to give Luffy the idea she was actually interested in hearing him out just yet. Or that she really did want to talk with him again. She just hoped that the rubber man would still be at the house.

The navigator looked up at the near cloudless sky with the warm breeze blowing in from the shore, it was a beautiful afternoon, perfect for catching up with long dead friends. Nami chuckled nervously as that thought crossed her mind.

Stopping a little ways from the house Nami's brow rose. Luffy was there and it seemed he was looking for something, her maybe. The younger pirate had his face pressed against the glass pane of a window looking into the darkened house. She was about to call out to him but on second thought remained quiet and watched.

"Oi Nami, you in there?" Luffy shifted his stance to get a better look in the house. "Your not playing hide and seek are you?" He pulled away from the window and huffed, crossing his arms in annoyance. _'Where is she? I can't convince her that I'm sorry if I can't find her.'_

Nami shook her head in exasperation. _'Alright let me amend my earlier thought…the Luffy I knew is still in there somewhere.'_ The orange haired girl shook her head and walked closer, still not entirely sure what it was she was going to say to him, or he to her. Feeling somewhat nervous Nami jumped slightly when Luffy whirled around after seeing her reflection in the window.

Luffy grinned widely at his navigator. "Ah Nami, you really are here." He moved away from the window and stepped closer to his navigator.

Even though she was still angry at him Luffy's smile was as contagious as ever. It was hard to keep a smile off her face when he was standing there grinning like an idiot but to Nami's credit, she managed to. "Come on Luffy. We need to talk." She turned and motioned him to follow.

"Oi Nami, where are we going?" Luffy finally asked when his navigator led him several rows deep into the fruit trees. She didn't answer right away and just kept walking for a few more rows before stopping. He watched as she finally turned around to face him.

"I thought we could use some privacy," Nami said plainly, "and no one's gonna bother us here." Then a hard glint came to her eyes as she stared at Luffy. "Now I want you to explain just what the hell you were thinking."

Taken aback at the hard edge to Nami's voice Luffy backed up and out of instinct braced himself to be pounded by the navigator like she normally would have. Instead after a few moments with no pain the young man looked up at his waiting nakama. She had her arms crossed in front of her and seemed to be waiting _somewhat_ patiently for him to speak. Becoming serious again Luffy straightened up. "Ah, well, about what I said before. I'm sorry." He started off nervously. It was one thing to play it all out in your head but entirely another when faced with an irritated Nami.

Nami fixed him with a blank stare as she waited to see what he would say. "Yeah I know that, I heard you the first time you said it." Him just apologizing wouldn't get the boy off that easily.

Luffy frowned back at the orange haired navigator seriously. "I didn't deserve to be your captain." He finally just broke down and said it.

A confused frown replaced the irritated look on Nami's face as she stared in disbelief at Luffy. "What are you talking about?"

"Captains are supposed to be able to protect their nakama. I couldn't even stop that bear guy on Sabaody from making everyone disappear." Luffy looked away from her to a nearby tangerine tree. To Nami it almost sounded like he was ashamed of not being able to help them. "I wasn't even strong enough to help my brother when he needed me to. Ace was killed protecting me because I was too weak."

Nami gasped in shock, that little bit of information had naturally been left out of all Marine reports. The only news the Marines willingly shared about Luffy's brother was the fact that Fire Fist Ace was indeed dead.

Luffy went on either not caring or not registering Nami's surprise. "I knew I couldn't help you guys with your dreams anymore but I didn't want you to feel like you had to wait for me. I wanted you to continue fulfilling your dreams." He ran a hand through his black hair causing the worn straw hat to fall down his back catching itself on the string. "The whole me being dead thing was never my idea. I had passed out after Ace was killed and didn't wake up till two weeks later and even after that I was pretty much out of it for a while. When I came back to my senses again I read in the paper that the Marines believed I was dead."

Nami so far was taking the news in stride, she had really wanted to beat some sense into him when he said he couldn't be their captain, but held it back in favor of letting the boy continue his explanation. The article Luffy had read was probably the same one she and the rest of the crew had read also. It had numbered off the loss of the Marine forces but not the pirates. It had recapped the news of Ace's heritage, that was still unbelievable even to her. Then the article went on to say that Ace had been executed and listed off the major pirates in the war that had fallen. Namely Whitebeard, the fierce giant Oars Jr., along with several others of Whitebeard's crew and Luffy.

Luffy's coal black eyes moved back to Nami trying to get her to understand. "At first I wanted to let you guys know that I was really alive and to explain why I couldn't be your captain anymore. Then old man Rayleigh showed up and I told him I needed to get stronger before I could come back to find you. The old man said he would train me but it would take awhile. He asked me if I really thought my crew was the type to go on with their lives and leave their captain behind if they knew he was alive." Luffy gave a hollow grin. "I knew ya'll wouldn't do that. So the old man told me to let you guys keep believing I was dead, that way you wouldn't have to wait around for me, and also if anyone asked you wouldn't have to get caught up in a lie."

"You disappeared to help us?" The orange haired navigator asked softly. She was still trying to take all this in. "You allowed us to think you were killed by the Marines in order to protect us?" If Luffy had really wanted to he could have easily been able to stop or dodge the punch before it hit, but as fate would have it. "You Dumbass!" Nami's fist connected squarely to the side of the young man's head sending the pirate face first into the dirt underneath one of the fruit trees. "Since when have you ever listened to anything anybody else told you?" Nami marched over and grabbed the young man by the collar hoisting him up to his feet. "Do you know the trouble we all went through because of you?" Luffy just stared at her blankly which only caused Nami to become angrier at his lack of response.

"We waited for you! Even after the news came in the papers." She punched him again and he stood up again, accepting every hit without flinching away.

"The Marines had lied about us before so why was now any different?" This time her hit was weaker and Luffy was able to remain standing.

Luffy was close enough to see tears start to build up in his navigator's beautiful auburn eyes. "Marine ships were searching for us but we stayed there and waited for you, until we couldn't anymore." Her fist landed on his chest, there was barely any force behind it.

Her free hand came up to clutch at his vest. Her fingers twisting the cloth beneath them. By this time Nami was trembling in his arms. Luffy was half supporting her as she leaned into his chest, hardly able to remain standing from the emotional dam break. It had been waiting for a year to do so. "It hurt so much when the news came out, even so, we still hoped you would return. It was only after we had to leave the archipelago to escape the Marine searches that all of us were forced to accept you had to have been dead not to meet up with your nakama. You would never have abandoned us like that otherwise… or so I thought anyway." Nami refused to look up at Luffy as she fought back the angry tears clouding her vision. "Chopper and Ussop were devastated and everyone else just broke apart. Without you there Luffy, we… we weren't the Strawhat pirates anymore." She sniffled trying to stem the flow of tears.

The black haired young captain frowned down at the crying girl on his chest. He opened his mouth to say something but what could he say? "I'm sorry Nami. I never meant to hurt you, I would never do that. I made a promise to the pinwheel guy but I couldn't keep it." Nami glanced up at Luffy through watery eyes. He pushed her back and held her by the shoulders, staring hard into her tearful eyes. "So now I'm gonna make a new promise. You're my navigator Nami, nothing is gonna change that. I'm going to get our nakama back, starting with you. I promise I'm not going to let anyone separate us a second time, I missed you too much for that to happen again."

_'He missed me? Just me, no us or them? That can't be how it sounded, why would he say something like that?'_ Luffy didn't seem to notice he had singled her out. Nami pulled away from Luffy's hold to wipe away the stray tears from her eyes. "You promise right?" The younger pirate nodded determinedly and she looked up, her tears gone now. "Alright then, you've never broken a promise to me before Luffy, so I'm holding you to this."

Luffy grinned widely. "Don't worry Nami I'm not gonna let you guys go missing this time."

Nami held out her hand much like Luffy had when the two first met, was it that long ago now? The pirate captain was about to bring his hand to meet hers when she suddenly pulled away leaving him to grab at air. "Of course there are two very important conditions." The navigator smirked bringing her extended hand up to rest her chin on her fingers in a thoughtful pose.

Luffy frowned in confusion. He tilted his head to the side like he always did when he was thinking. "Conditions?"

"Yep." Nami kept the smirk on her face as she watched the rubber man nod for her to name her so called conditions. "One, I'm in charge of any treasure we find." This normally would be a no-brainer but Nojiko had said something about Luffy traveling with some woman's crew. So Nami wanted to make that point clear.

"That's easy Nami, I wouldn't want our treasure with anybody else, you'll keep it safe." Luffy chuckled happily, obviously pleased with this condition.

The orange haired girl's smirk then melted into a soft smile. "Condition two," Nami tucked a strand of her longer hair behind her ear as she looked down and decided that she had been mad at him for long enough, "what I'm going to do doesn't change anything. Got it?" Luffy looked very confused with that, which was understandable, but he nodded anyway. Instantly he found himself enveloped in a warm soft place filled with the color orange and smelling of sunshine and tangerines. "God I missed you Luffy."

All too soon for Luffy his navigator pulled away from the tight hug she had given him and stepped back with a light blush staining her cheeks. He was surprised to find that his arms had somehow found their way around Nami's waist, when had he started hugging her in return? Quickly, so as not to be punished, Luffy pulled his hands back to his sides. Blushing like mad he managed to stammer out something, trying not to make it awkward. "Uh, so… so it's a deal?"

Nami chose not to question the fact that Luffy was the color of a tomato because she was sure her face was somewhere near the same shade. She also didn't bring up the fact that when Luffy had hugged her back it felt like an electric shock had gone down her spine. Smiling in nervousness with the red fading from her face Nami held out her hand and this time didn't pull it away when Luffy slapped his across hers in an unsigned agreement. The Strawhats had their navigator back.

=O=O=

And so concludes chapter 3. Finally.

Obaa-san usually means grandma (not in the family sense though) mostly used in terms of a nice old lady you would meet in a store or something~ if my Japanese needs correcting please tell me

There is no reason for ya'll to bring up every little wrong thing with this chapter, be it characterization or something else. Believe me I know already. I have to say I'm really not satisfied with how this chapter turned out but after 4 full rewrites and innumerable false starts I just decided to bite the bullet and move on. I probably could have written and rewritten this for the next year and still not been fully happy with it. (sigh)

Next chapter we see how Nami handles the Kuja pirates and how Hancock handles Nami. Meanwhile poor Luffy is totally oblivious.

Note for both Nami and Luffy's description- Thanks to the great Oda-sama in his wisdom the Strawhats have a whole new look. However since his takes place in 2 years and mine only 1 they're not entirely the same.

*Luffy does not have the scar on his chest, seeing as I don't know where or when he got it from, so for this fic he got it in the missing year Oda supplied us with.

*Nami's hair is longer but definitely not as long as it has become in 2 years time, if I have to say, it probably reaches down to her shoulder blades or upper back. I did include her...ahem... growth in other areas though.


	4. Off To A Rocky Start

It is sooo freakin' cold here! We're supposedly gonna get snow tonight, which isn't a very usual occurrence in the south of Texas. I was outside earlier for like 20 minutes and my fingers like to have froze off, I'm tellin' ya. COLD! Anyway, aside from me freezing to death, I made it. Chapter 4, geez it took a while didn't it? This is my longest chapter to date (on this story) I apologize for taking so much time but I did warn ya'll in the first chapter this would happen. Outside of school and life in general to blame I've also been helping a friend of mine with a story she's writing. That is neither here nor there however.

This chapter isn't so focused on Luffy and Nami but like I promised, Hancock and Nami do meet. I'm actually kinda worried, this is the start of other characters being entered into the story which I have no experience in writing for. In example: Margaret and Rayleigh. So if I inadvertently murder their personalities as you see them, I'm sorry. Anyhow, I'm sure all of you are saying shut up and get on with it already, so here we go.

Disclaimer: One Piece will be mine in 3...2...(spark fizzle spark) Argh! No! Computer burnout. Luffy and Co. still belong to Oda.

"Talking"  
'_Thinking'  
_**Bold**- interruptions

**-  
Chapter 4  
Off To A Rocky Start  
-**

Two brave fugitives ran down the darkened lane toward the beach and hopefully escape. It was a dark and stormy night as the two outlaws ran for the seaside. Their only hope was a small boat prepared by the village's kindest most generous person.

**But Captain, it wasn't storming on that night, don't you remember?**

**Yeah we were there too. It was actually pretty clear.**

**Well… yeah, that's what I meant.**

A dark and stormy night would have been best for an escape but unfortunately the stars and moon were out and shining bright so the two fugitives had to be careful and sneaky, using the trees for cover. The Marines were already on to their plan though and as they ran the two could hear scores of Marines tearing through the village they had just left. Pulling people from their beds and causing all sorts of havoc.

**There weren't that many Marines in the village though. And, they didn't really pull anyone out of their beds either. **

**That's where we came in too.**

**Yeah, we distracted the ones that came through the village while you guys escaped.**

**Who's telling this story?**

**You. (x3)**

Knowing the Marines were hot on their trail the two friends picked up their pace. "I don't like this. What if they find us out? It seems like everything has gone wrong since-"

"Look, just keep your mouth shut and there's no way they'll trace you back to me." Nami told me as we ran for the beach. I frowned at her, I knew she didn't mean to be so short with me, that's just how she was in tense situations.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, I knew Nami didn't like talking about that time either. "Are you sure you're gonna be alright alone?" We stopped as the trees ended and looked out at the open field that would have to be crossed before reaching the slanting path down to the beach. I was worried. Not just about the escape but about Nami also, she hadn't been the same since we received the news about the outcome of the war. None of us were, really.

She turned back to me with a look I'm sure she meant to be reassuring. "Okay, this is where we separate. And, don't worry about me, I'll be just fine. You should be worrying about keeping everyone else safe, after all, it's gonna be your responsibility to look after everything here."

I nodded and looked up. I knew everyone was counting on me. Nami was right even if I was sad to see her leave. We had been traveling together with the crew for so long and then she sailed with us back to my home so we wouldn't be alone. Still don't know her reasons for doing that. With a quick hug she ran from the cover of the trees and I watched her till she reached the path to the beach. As Nami disappeared in the dark I turned to leave, I still had to make it back to the house before the Marines caught me.

**What are you guys doing? Telling stories about the Grand Line again?**

**Nope, this one is about the escape.**

**He's just getting to the fight.**

**Please go on then, I'd hate to delay the story.**

**Ahem, alright, let's see. **

"Kyaa!" As I was turning around and fixing to head back I heard a loud scream from Nami down on the beach. I was half way across the field before I realized that I couldn't be found out now, Nami would probably kill me. Instead I turned and ran for the cliff that overlooked the beach and water. I had to at least know what was going on. Even from my position I could hear the sounds of the fight taking place below me.

The Marines had set up an ambush. "I don't believe it." I murmured. As the stone carved path reached the sand, a whole group of Marines had been waiting for Nami to show up. There had to be at least a hundred-

**That seems like such a big number doesn't it?**

**What are you talking about? That's how many there were.**

**There's no need to embellish what is already a good story. Isn't that right?**

**Okay, okay.**

There were about twenty Marines standing between Nami and her boat.

**Happy?**

**Yes.**

**Humph.**

I watched Nami fight her way through the soldiers on the beach and she was making good progress too, until a Marine captain stepped in front of her. That's when I started to worry again. They both stopped for minute but I couldn't hear what was being said and then Nami made the first move. She actually attacked the captain. I never could describe Nami as being someone that would act rashly but that move was pretty hasty on her part. I think that's what he wanted because he was ready for her. I didn't see what happened, it was all so quick, but I did see Nami stumble past him. She was injured, that much was obvious, but that didn't stop her. Nami put some space between herself and the Marine captain then she used her Perfect Clima Tact and I must say there isn't such a useful well-built weapon-

**~Captainnn~**

**You're getting off track again.**

**Huh, oh right. Heh.**

Anyway, Nami used her Clima Tact to create a lightning bolt and took the Marine captain totally by surprise. She didn't kill him though. While the soldiers were all scrambling for cover she ran for the boat and was able to escape. I sat on the cliff and watched as the boat holding my nakama sailed off and out of sight. It wasn't over though, for me at least.

While I was walking back from the beach I felt a hand grab my shoulder. The grip was hard as iron. "Excuse me," a deep voice said to me, "I do believe it's a bit late for a walk."

I turned around to find myself face to face with a Marine lieutenant. "Well what do we have here?" The man snarled in my face.

"What business is that of yours?" I said back. I wasn't afraid of this pansy Marine.

"Well there has been quite a ruckus on the island tonight. Apparently some dangerous pirates have been sneaking around the village lately. I wonder if you've seen anything suspicious." The man looked me up and down.

I grinned back dangerously. "Even if I did see something who's to say I'm gonna tell you?"

**I rather enjoy the original ending.**

**Aww, can't I be cool even at the end?**

**You're already cool to us.**

**Yeah captain, you don't need to lie to us.**

**Finish it right.**

**Geez, it's so boring though. Alright I'll do it.**

"There has been quite a ruckus on the island tonight. Apparently some dangerous pirates have been sneaking around the village lately. I wonder if you've seen anything suspicious." The man looked me up and down.

I wasn't nervous. I had been caught by the Marines when I had just promised Nami that I would take care of everything here. But being nervous, definitely not. "Ah…yeah, well…" I tried to think up some excuse but it wasn't so easy. "It was such a nice night and all," I hoped the Marine didn't question the fact that it was hardly a night to be out and about, "and I couldn't sleep anyway. I figured a nice late night stroll would help." I had to congratulate myself for that one.

I was sweating bullets as the lieutenant looked me over with a critical eye. Finally he seemed to buy into it. "Very well," he told me, "get home. It's not a good night for a civilian to be out walking alone."

"Uh, right, thanks. Will do." I gave a mock salute and he dropped his hand to let me be on my way. When he was out of sight I drooped in relief that had been way too close. And that my friends is the end of our story when I return safe and sound to you guys.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"That was a good story Ussop-kun." The soft sweet voice of Kaya spoke up as the story ended. She, Carrot, Pepper, and Onion were sitting on the beach in a semi-circle around a long nosed young man with dark curly hair that was hidden underneath a tan bandana.

Ussop smiled proudly, the story of Nami's escape was always a favorite of his to tell. Even though only a select audience could be present for it. He sat in the middle of the group and tried to cover the blush that formed at Kaya's comment. Usually he wouldn't be so embarrassed from a simple thing like that but coming from the soft spoken girl was different. Three young snickers broke him out of his embarrassment and he glared half-heartedly at the former crew of the Ussop pirates.

The three younger boys grinned at one another and stood up, brushing the sand from their clothes. "Well, we should get going Captain. It's getting kinda late." Pepper said, the three looking from one to the other. Carrot nodded in agreement and then nudged Onion who caught on and nodded his head also.

Scratching his head in confusion, it was only around three in the afternoon, Ussop looked up to his young friends. "Alright you guys, see ya later." With that the three boys walked back down the sandy beach toward the small village leaving the two older teens alone. Ussop looked over at Kaya but the girl merely shrugged with a soft smile. The black haired former pirate grinned back and then stood up to offer his hand down to the girl. She accepted and he pulled her up to stand beside him. "So do you want me to walk you home, Kaya?"

"Oh, thank you Ussop-kun. I know Chopper-sensei would like to see you." The blonde haired girl giggled a bit. "He's been so busy coming up with my next test lately."

When the young reindeer doctor had heard about Kaya's interest in the medical field he had instantly offered to help her with her studies. Not surprisingly Chopper had turned out to be a pretty good teacher, not at all like his own sensei, Doctorine. In order to not draw suspicion he had moved into the mansion with Kaya, the story was as her pet, while Ussop had moved back into his old house. Which to his surprise was still standing and even been maintained while he had been out to sea. This was explained by Merry who said Miss Kaya wanted to be sure Ussop knew when he returned, that he would always have a home here. It was just like old times for the curly haired sharpshooter. He still hung out with his three younger friends, Carrot, Pepper, and Onion though now they were starting to follow their own dreams. He would visit Chopper and Kaya as much as her studies would allow and tell stories. Though he still hadn't told the girl his real feelings which is what he desperately wanted to do. As much as he braved on the seas with the Strawhats he still didn't have the courage for that.

As Kaya and Ussop neared the mansion they both noticed a uniformed man standing out by the front gate. It was a Marine if any indication was made by the way he dressed, a high ranking one at that. "You know, I think I recognize that guy." Ussop whispered, not taking his eyes off the tall man at the front gate.

"Could he be a soldier you met in town, Ussop-kun?" Kaya asked also eyeing the Marine with a bit of suspicion. He was an older man, a commodore by the looks of it. He had his salt and pepper colored hair in a neat crew cut and his goatee was also trimmed neatly. Dark brown eyes, that were slightly crinkled from age at the corners, were looking between the bars of Kaya's front gate.

Ussop frowned and placed his finger to his nose in thought. "No, I haven't seen the guy in town. I remember now. He's the Marine I saw a year ago, the one who was trying to stop Nami on the beach." The sniper broke off and went silent as the two came closer to reaching the man.

The older man turned at the two's approach and smiled cordially with a slight bow Kaya. "Good afternoon miss. Can I assume that you are the young woman who lives here?"

Kaya looked surprised over at Ussop before facing the Marine again and nodding uncertainly. "Yes, I live here, my name is Kaya. What does a Marine commodore need from me?" Ussop remained silent, he figured a long time ago, the less dealings he had with the Marines of this island the better chances of not being caught there were.

"I was told by some people in the village that I could find a young man that goes by the name Ussop hanging around here." The Marine shifted his eyes over to the young woman's dark haired companion. Ussop frowned uncertainly. "Would this be the young man in question?"

Ussop gulped but with a glance over at Kaya he stepped past her and faced the old man. "Yeah, my name's Ussop. What do you want and who are you?"

The Marine smiled though it didn't give the sniper any good feelings. "Please forgive my manners. My name is Hiroki and all I want is to speak with you on an important matter that took place about a year ago."

_'A year ago? He can't be talking about…' _Ussop nearly panicked though amazingly kept his expression neutral. Hiroki sneered as though he knew something but wasn't saying. The former pirate sniper gulped again trying not to show how much this guy was making him nervous.

"It involves the night we were trying to catch a very dangerous pirate, one of the infamous Strawhat crew to be exact." Ussop turned pale, thankfully his dark skin kept the old man from noticing. "You see, the reason I am bringing this up now, one of my former lieutenants failed to report a certain incident involving a civilian out walking the night of the pursuit. We have only just learned of this error and the officer has been properly punished, of course." The Marine's sneer became bigger as Ussop started to sweat. "Naturally, we need to question this person. Perhaps he might have seen or heard something useful. After some investigation we have finally learned the name of this person and it has lead me here."

To Ussop this guy looked like the cat that caught the mouse. The sniper picturing himself as the poor helpless little squeaker. "Um, I guess that guy was talking about me, huh? So what do you want to know? I didn't see anything weird that night." Ussop crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look as uncaring as possible.

Commodore Hiroki smirked triumphantly. "Well, thank you for being so cooperative young man. However, I will have to ask you to come with me to the base. We will question you there, protocol and everything." The man motioned Ussop ahead of him with a wave of his hand. He waited patiently as Ussop glanced helplessly at Kaya before shrugging his shoulders and following after Hiroki uncertainly. As the young man passed, the Marine commodore placed a hand on his shoulder. To anyone else it was merely a small gesture of reassurance but to Ussop, who felt the iron grip of the man clamp down on him and squeeze, his old 'I-can't-go-with-this-scary-Marine-guy' disease started acting up.

"Kaya! Kaya! What are we gonna do? The Marines have taken Ussop!" The young blonde woman turned to see her sensei in his natural reindeer form come running from the house with Merry right behind as soon as the captain was out of sight. They had probably been watching at the window and she couldn't deny that this turn of events worried her also.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

'_Why am I still waiting? I hate having to wait.'_ Boa Hancock had been sitting in her private rooms for more than half an hour. She was waiting for Luffy to make his usual mealtime appearance. The thought that he wouldn't be coming, never crossed her mind, especially because he was waiting for another woman to let him back into her room. Or that he would choose to eat with someone else over her.

The empress's rooms were on the top level of the ship, so that no one could be above her. Unlike the other crew quarters she had several compartments to stay in. Aside from her bedroom, there were also the eating and living areas, and her own large bathroom. Everything was lavishly furnished, nothing too great for the lovely princess of Amazon Lily. There was silk and satin everywhere, pillows and sheets, the sofas and chairs. The dining table and matching chairs were made of the finest cherry wood and carved by the best that Amazon Lily had to offer. Expensive vases and elaborate paintings adorned the empress's rooms.

The level below her was almost as lavishly decorated but not quite as lovely. The rooms just below were for the snake empress's two sisters. Of course they were built much bigger to accommodate the larger size of the sisters. Even so each of the women had their own set of rooms though the only difference was the eating and living areas had been combined.

Below those rooms were several empty rooms that were used for any special guests the snake princess wanted to bring along, this was where Luffy's quarters were located for the time he had been sailing with the Kuja pirates. Each of the rooms consisted of only the sleeping quarters and a private bathroom. Luffy had the whole level to himself which he didn't really like, he always enjoyed being around his crew, and recently he spent a lot of his time either training or hanging out with the warrior women.

Hancock sighed, usually Luffy would come eat lunch with her, that was the whole reason there was a table full of food waiting to be eaten. So far the young man hadn't shown up today. In fact Hancock hadn't seen Luffy since they had left that wretched, pathetic, little village. It hadn't even been half a day and the snake princess was becoming very annoyed. "Why is my beloved not here with me?" Hancock pouted and imagined how Luffy's return would play out.

_Luffy stepped through the door and immediately was at Hancock's side. The beautiful decorations of Hancock's private rooms seemed to sparkle brighter as the rubber man walked in. "Oh, my beautiful princess, please forgive my horrible lateness." He took the snake princess in his arms and gazed lovingly into her eyes. "I was busy preparing this special present for you." He suddenly brought out a large bouquet of flowers. He didn't even glance at the piles of food laid out for him._

_Gasping, Hancock took the flowers and smiled, showing all her love for this man in her eyes. "Luffy…" _

"_Unfortunately these pathetic little weeds do not even come close to the beauty that shines from you, my love." Luffy pulled her closer and then kissed her passionately as Hancock melted into the kiss. She could tell from his deep kiss how much he had missed her while he had been gone from her side._

Hancock blushed and giggled as she hid her face in her hands. "Oh Luffy, my husband, you are so romantic. Hehe." She wiggled in her seat as her imagination played out in her head. Unfortunately for the snake princess, unknown by her, today Luffy would be too busy with something else to eat with her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Nami was looking out her window at the crystal blue ocean waves. The reflection on the window showed the orange haired young woman with a soft smile on her face and bright brown eyes that seemed to come alive again. It felt really good to be out on the sea once more, even though it had only been a year, to the navigator it felt more like a lifetime.

Once again she had left her island following after Luffy on his journey, she had only said goodbye to Nojiko and Genzo, they wouldn't have been very happy if she left them out this time. Nami could tell Genzo was still kinda miffed at Luffy but he didn't try to talk her out of it. That had been several hours ago and now she was in the empty room across from Luffy's. A smile couldn't help but spread across her face as Nami remembered how excited the captain had been at not having to be alone on this level of the ship anymore. In fact Luffy had been so excited to have her back he wouldn't leave her alone, even after her island had disappeared from sight. Nami nearly had to push Luffy out of her room so she could find the time to unpack the few things she brought along with her. This naturally included her maps and cartography tools along with clothes and other personal items.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Nami turned around. "Well speak of the devil." The orange haired navigator smiled and went to open the door. She found Luffy standing outside with an excited look on his face.

"Are you ready for some lunch Nami?" Luffy still seemed to be cautious around her perhaps thinking she hadn't quite forgiven him. The genuine smile across the navigator's face told him otherwise though.

It was at this point that Nami realized she was famished. Getting ready to leave and saying goodbye had taken up her whole morning and she hadn't eaten breakfast. Luffy chuckled as Nami's stomach reminded her of this, the navigator blushed, and she bonked Luffy on the head for good measure as she passed. "I don't want to hear anything from you, gluttonous captain."

Luffy laughed and this caused Nami to laugh also. It felt natural as the two fell back into their previous routine of bickering and annoying each other so easily. It was as if the whole year of being separated hadn't changed anything. The feeling both young pirates had of something being missing was slowly disappearing as the captain and navigator headed for the galley and lunch together.

'_How can it be that he seems so different and yet it all feels the same?'_ Nami wondered as she listened to Luffy go on about the large ship they found themselves sailing on. _'One minute he seems like the old Luffy but the next I can see just how much he's matured since a year ago.'_ Nami glanced over to the right as her captain who was grinning and describing the tasty food the Kuja cook liked to make for him. As she listened something slowly dawned on the navigator. They had talked about Cocoyashi village and if the villagers would ever forgive Luffy and Nami had brought up the Marine situation in Syrup village. Luffy had described various parts of the Kuja pirate ship, in more detail than what Nami thought him capable of, and they had both discussed who to try and find after Ussop and Chopper. But, still Luffy hadn't asked her a single question about where Kuma had sent her flying or how she got back to the crew. Come to think of it, she hadn't asked him much about the past year either. _'Could it be that he doesn't ask me about it because he thinks I'll want to know about Ace in exchange?'_ Then Luffy's excited voice broke through her thoughts.

"Oi, Margaret," Luffy spotted the blonde Amazon Lily warrior down the hall and led Nami over to introduce them.

The tall woman smiled at her far shorter friend and waved. Then she noticed an orange haired woman who was being led around by Luffy but more importantly she saw that he had a real smile again. Margaret had rarely seen such a true smile on Luffy's face since after the Marine-Whitebeard war. "Luffy-kun, who is your new friend? Is she one of your crewmates we are searching for?"

Luffy grinned and pulled Nami forward, she had stopped a few paces away. "Yep. This is Nami, she's the best navigator in the world."

Recognition dawned in the blue eyes of the taller woman as Nami blushed lightly at Luffy's compliment. "Oh, so she is the one you wanted to find first." Margaret smiled widely and bent down to shake Nami's hand roughly. "Hello, Luffy's friend, I'm Margaret. It's very nice to meet you." Straightening up again the blonde Amazon let go of Nami's hand and turned to Luffy, missing the navigator try and get the feeling back in her fingers. "Oh, by the way Luffy-kun, Master Rayleigh has been looking for you so I'd be careful."

"Damn. The old man, I totally forgot about him." Luffy slapped his forehead and groaned. "Oh well," he shrugged, "he'll probably just make me do some extra training again. Thanks for the warning Margaret."

Margaret grinned and waved as she started back down the hallway, heading to wherever she was going. "Bye Luffy-kun and Nami-chan."

Both pirates waved farewell and Luffy turned to see Nami's questioning glance. "Eh, Nami, what's up?"

Nami started walking again and looked thoughtful for a moment. "She said that Master Rayleigh was here on the ship. As in Silvers Rayleigh?" Nami asked and looked over to Luffy. The captain nodded and Nami only hmm'd. "So he's been training you all this time. That's what Shakky must have meant about the old man having business to take care of."

The rubber captain wasn't sure what Nami was talking about but he was at least glad she was walking and thinking at the same time, he was getting really hungry. "Yeah, the old man was training me to use my haki on that deserted island he took me to."

"Deserted island?" Nami asked but then abandoned that in favor of a more intriguing question. "What is haki?" She looked over when Luffy didn't answer her. Nami turned around to look back at Luffy who had stopped a few feet behind. "Luffy?"

Without warning several things seemed to happen all at once. The air in the corridor felt like it had been sucked up in giant vacuum, causing Nami to not be able to breathe properly, or it would have if there'd been time. At the same moment Luffy dashed forward tackling Nami to the ground and rolling with her to the other side of the hall. The very spot Nami had been not one second earlier was then struck with a short bladed knife. The captain jumped to his feet just in time to block a grey haired old man from impaling him on the sharp end of a sword.

Nami sat up and was surprised to see Luffy locked in combat with none other than Silvers Rayleigh. The air around them was nearly throbbing with a heavy pressure. Nami was sure it was coming from the two combatants. _'But that's impossible.'_ Whatever this was though it was making Nami feel slightly lightheaded. Finally Luffy was able to throw the

sword away from Rayleigh but the old man was too fast and had Luffy pinned to the opposite wall in the blink of an eye.

Rayleigh sighed and frowned at his pupil. "You are still too slow, Luffy. You hesitated and that will either get you or your nakama killed." Here he looked over his shoulder at Nami, who was still on the ground. "You can't be so hesitant to want to kill me."

Finally released from the wall Luffy frowned back and walked over to help Nami to her feet again. "Why did you attack Nami. This is only training old man. If I had been any slower-"

"If you had been any slower, then you would see exactly what would happen in a real battle." Rayleigh almost growled back. "I attacked the girl because I knew you would do anything to protect her and I was right, you were half a second faster than your last session, you didn't even get nicked by the knife this time."

Luffy frowned deeper, he knew the old man was right, but it still ticked him off that he put Nami into danger like that. "Yeah, well, you still shouldn't have thrown the knife at her." Luffy pouted but Rayleigh had already turned his attention to Nami.

"Hello again, Miss Nami, I hope you're uninjured from my little test." The former pirate greeted the orange haired navigator. He was lucky looks couldn't kill and Nami was still too lightheaded to act on her first thoughts of strangling the old man.

Nami held her palm to her head and tried to steady herself by holding Luffy's hand. "What was that?" She asked, deciding to kill Rayleigh later, after he explained what that weird pressure change was.

Rayleigh smiled and leaned forward as if sharing a great secret. "The pressure you felt is called haki and I must say that I'm impressed you're still conscious. With the level of power that was just released a normal person would be out cold." He looked carefully at the orange haired young woman with a critical eye. "Luffy, is this the girl you keep saying can injure you?"

Luffy nodded but looked as confused as Nami at why the old man was asking about it. "Yeah, she used to beat me up all the time, it hurt too. Why?" Nami growled and muttered something under her breath concerning 'only stupid idiots'.

"It might be nothing. No, never mind." Rayleigh stroked his goatee in a position that Luffy had come to know as a thinking pose. Then the gray haired man turned to his young pupil. "You missed your training session today, I assume you remember what that means."

The raven haired pirate waved the comment away. "Yeah, I'll be there bright and early tomorrow. I'm showing Nami around today."

A smirk came to the old face of Rayleigh as he looked between the young woman and his student. "Is that so? Well then, have fun you two." He turned and before Luffy could figure out what the strange tone in the old man's voice meant or Nami could think of something to reply with, he was gone.

"Well, that was really weird." Nami said, a perplexed look on her face.

Luffy scratched the back of his head. "He was even weirder than normal. I wonder why he was so interested in you?" Nami could only shrug. "Anyway, come on Nami, I'm wasting away here." With that Luffy grabbed his navigator's hand and preceded to drag her to the galley where the smell of food could already be detected.

Around the corner Silvers Rayleigh watched the young captain and his orange haired navigator run off. Normally he wasn't one to meddle in the affairs of youngsters but he did have a particular interest in this young man and his crew. "I wonder about that girl. She shows no outward appearance of possessing it and from what Luffy has said she isn't nearly as strong as the others but still… if it's true she can negate his rubber powers and cause him injury, the young woman might be using that power without even realizing." The old former pirate smiled and stroked his beard as he headed back to his room. _'Why did he choose to collect her first instead of the swordsmen or even Nico Robin? They are surely much more handy in a fight situation. Was it really as he said before, convenience?' _Rayleigh grinned and chuckled quietly to himself. "Or, could it all be happening again, eh, Roger? It's amazing that those two act so much like you and Rogue."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

She wasn't annoyed. She wasn't angry. She was furious. Boa Hancock strolled menacingly down to the lower deck. The beautiful afternoon did nothing to calm the snake princess's temper. Thanks to one of her loyal warriors she now knew just why her beloved Luffy did not dine with her during lunch. _'How dare that two-bit man stealer try and take the love of my life! That horrible little witch.'_ Following the trail of those two had been easy as everyone on the ship knew Luffy and they would never dare try and keep something from their beautiful princess.

Stepping onto the deck Hancock spotted her two targets at once, they were standing together near the railing and seemed to be talking about something. The snake princess locked onto the young woman with her orange hair freely falling over her shoulders and, regrettably Hancock admitted, a short pretty dark green dress that had a stylish thin brown belt that hung from one hip to the opposite. Fashion aside it made the ebony haired woman even angrier. _'She is no doubt trying to convince him to leave me.'_ The dark haired empress glowered at that thought. Hancock stepped toward the pair with her long silky hair flowing behind her and eyes digging into Nami's back. _'I'll just have to show this woman who is worthy to stand by Luffy's side.'_ Hancock hadn't met Luffy's nakama as of yet, through most of the time at that small village the princess had stayed up in her rooms, pouting. So the orange haired woman that was taking Luffy's attention was an unknown challenge.

"Hey Luffy," Nami leaned on the railing next to her rubber captain as they stared out at the sunny horizon, "I've been thinking. It's not just you who should apologize." Luffy looked confused over at his orange haired nakama. "I'm sorry too. Maybe if I'd have been stronger I could have been more of a help to you guys and we wouldn't have been separated by Kuma in the first place. Instead, all I could do was freeze up and scream for you to help me."

Luffy frowned hard in Nami's direction. How could she say that? She was one of the strongest women he knew. "Don't say that Nami. It definitely wasn't your fault, just like it wasn't mine or Zoro's or anybody's. There wasn't anything any of us could do. In a way I'm glad you weren't with me at that time. When I went to save… during that huge battle there were so many strong guys fighting, I wouldn't want you to be hurt, or worse."

Nami finally looked up from the waves being pushed apart by the bow of the ship. There were tears edging on the corner of her eyes. "I'm sorry about Ace, Luffy." Her eyes widened, she had been intending to say something entirely different, but instead those words came out. She didn't mean to come out and say it like that but she felt she had to say it before there wasn't an opportunity to do so. Nami uncertainly reached up and adjusted Ace's hat band around Luffy's neck so that both 'faces' could be seen. "I just wanted to say that and…I know how it feels to be that helpless, when your family sacrifices themselves for you. If you ever want to talk about anything, well, I'm not going anywhere."

Eyes widening at the girls hands brushing lightly against his skin, Luffy looked down at Nami, who had found an interesting spot on the deck to stare at. The navigator looked somewhat nervous to him and somehow that made her look even cuter. _'Whoa, hey, where did that thought come from? Even if it is true. Wait, when did I start thinking of my nakama like that?'_

From behind them, all of a sudden, there came a forcefully loud yell. "Oh, Luffy-kun, there you are." And, then a very tall woman with long black hair swept down and nearly pulled Luffy off his feet in the tight hug she had given him. "I was so concerned about you, my love, you never showed up to our lunch date this afternoon."

In the process of this woman's entrance Nami was forced back from Luffy a few paces. The navigator only looked on with disbelief in her eyes. _'What is with this woman?'_ However, when she had called Luffy her love, something deep in Nami's chest twinged momentarily. This slight discomfort was ignored by the navigator in favor of a more pressing matter. "Hey, yeah, we were in the middle of something here. Who are you anyway?" Nami frowned up at the older woman only to meet with a dark steely gaze that could pretty much be interpreted as 'Go die somewhere.'

"Oh, that's right," Luffy spoke up after freeing himself from Hancock's grip, "Nami, this is Hancock. She's the Shichibukai who is gonna help us find our nakama. Even though she works with the Marines she's a good guy." The young captain was blissfully ignorant of the death glare Hancock was sending to Nami but the navigator picked up on it right away.

Nami looked confused at Hancock's hostility at first but then the constant glare was starting to get on her nerves. She tried to brush it off, it wouldn't do to get their only way from island to island mad, so she would toss them off the ship. "Well, okay then, if Luffy trusts you then I guess I have no choice. I'm Nami, thanks for helping us." Nami forced a smile and held out her hand for the other woman to shake.

'_What is she playing at?'_ Hancock glared from the offered hand up to the girl's strained smile. _'Oh, I get it. Ha, this little girl is trying to trick me and let my guard down. Nice try.'_ The Amazon Lily princess smirked at Nami's attempts to trick her away from Luffy. "Don't think you can fool me commoner. I know your sneaky little plans and they won't get by me." Hancock pulled back and pointed accusingly at Nami while looking up at the sky, in her standard, I'm-better-than-you pose. "Luffy-kun would never fall for your schemes either, just so you know. A little girl such as you has nothing to offer this wonderful man while I have everything, don't even try." The empress whirled around without another look at Nami's outstretched hand. _'Take that you man-stealer.'_

'_Geez, what a weird bitch. What is she even upset about anyway?'_ Nami lowered her hand, glaring heatedly at the Shichibukai woman's back, there was something about this woman that just set Nami's teeth on edge. Even knowing her less than ten minutes Nami could tell what a spoiled brat she was. "I'll eat lunch with you tomorrow 'kay, Hancock?" Nami heard Luffy say to the woman but was too busy trying to calm herself down to really notice. As Hancock strutted away confidently the orange haired navigator could only wonder where Luffy had found these crazy people. Then she chuckled. "Then again our nakama weren't exactly people you could count as sane either."

"Eh, what did you say Nami?" Luffy asked looking questioningly over at his navigator. _'What is with everyone today, they're all weird, first the old man and then Hancock.'_ Luffy was confused, which all together in itself wasn't much different than normal. Although for the life of him Luffy couldn't figure out why his navigator's deep chocolaty eyes had hardened into a gaze Luffy recognized from when she was trying to figure out an opponent's moves.

Bringing herself out of her train of thought Nami looked over at Luffy's puzzled expression. "Oh, it was nothing Luffy, but I think I want to know more about these people, if I'm gonna be sailing with them for a while." _And I also want to know more about this Hancock woman, I'm not buying her whole innocent act._ "In exchange I'll tell you about the sky island I landed on and how I got back to Sunny after." She made sure to mention the 'sky island' part especially to get Luffy's attention and it worked. So the rest of the afternoon for Strawhat captain and navigator was spent together, telling of everything that had taken place since the incident with Kuma.

However, Luffy couldn't really bring himself to relive Ace's death more than once, by describing it over and over, so he told Nami that he'd only tell them when the crew was together again. Nami thankfully understood and agreed. Likewise, Nami didn't feel much like going into detail of the time after the crew had gathered together again. She skipped over most, if not all, of the time period right before the Strawhat crew separated for a second time. Luffy didn't really understand why but accepted it for now.

=O=O=

For the next chapter Hancock spends some time with Luffy (gag) and Nami runs into some competition. Or more competition, as it were. Meanwhile what has happened to poor Ussop?

Nothing really much else to say except review, review, review. =)

As always ConCrit is welcomed but flames will be used to thaw my frozen fingers.


	5. New Friends And A Challenge

Yea! New chapter! What a way to celebrate the end of the school year. Here's an extra-long chapter to make up for the long time I left this hanging, though it's only been a few months. =P Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to post. No promises though. I've been having trouble keeping away the evil, kidnapping, plot bunnies. Thanks to those little creatures I am now working on 2 more multi-chapter fics. 2 series of one shots/drabbles. And I also have **_Fears_** to update. I say this only to help explain why the updates for this fic will have long times in-between. So I'm asking, again, that ya'll bear with me on this. In this chapter as promised there is some alone time for Hancock and Luffy. But, I think I balance it out nicely with some LuNa moments also.

Disclaimer: Luffy and co. don't belong to me

"talking"  
_'thinking'_

**-  
Chapter 5  
****New Friends and a Challenge  
-**

Nami looked around the crowded eating hall and sighed, Luffy was nowhere in sight. The room was half filled with women, eating and talking with each other, it added some much needed normalcy to the scene. The fact that it wasn't normal came from the large variety of women that she found herself traveling with, some had to be over seven feet tall, others had more muscles than most men. And, all of them seemed to have an affinity for snakes, the slithering creatures were everywhere even in the decor. Nami knew Luffy had training this morning with Rayleigh because he had missed out on it yesterday but she had hoped he would've been here by now. It was already 7:30. It wasn't that the navigator had to be around Luffy but it did give her some company since she didn't know anyone else. Shaking her head, Nami looked around the room determinedly. _'Come on, girl, you're not the shy type. Now get out there.'_

The short self-pep talk helped, a little. Nami straightened her shoulders and took a step away from the wall she was standing against. She found a vacant seat at one of the tables that was mostly empty and slid into it with her plate of food. There was some curious chatter around her as she sat down, Nami could only assume it was about her, being the new face on board and all. It was painfully obvious she didn't belong on the ship; her clothing gave it away in a heartbeat. This morning she was wearing a white tank top that had a pink flower on the upper right front and a dark purple skirt with her long hair pulled back in a low ponytail. This was in contrast to the warrior outfits and armor of the Kuja pirates. '_I guess it doesn't really matter.'_ Nami shrugged.

The navigator looked down at the food on her plate, scrambled eggs, toast, and some bacon. Lunch and dinner the day before had been really good, not up to Sanji's quality, but better than average. _'I wonder what Sanji will do once we find him? I can't see him working in a kitchen filled with women.'_ Nami giggled to herself, remembering long ago when Sanji had been too injured after a fight to cook for the crew, and she had been enlisted to take his place. The chef had a fit when he found out his 'precious' Nami-san had to take his spot in the kitchen. _'Come to think of it, since this crew must already have a decent navigator, there isn't much for me to do around here either. I'm gonna go stir crazy if I don't do something.'_

"Oh, it's you again. Luffy's friend." Someone said all of a sudden from beside her. Nami jumped a bit, startled, at the close presence. The orange haired navigator was also surprised that she recognized the voice.

A woman with short blonde hair and kind blue eyes slid into an empty chair next to the navigator and smiled at the smaller girl. The other side was taken by a bulky woman with light brown hair done up in short pigtails. Her tanned skin did nothing to hide the many battle scars Nami guessed came from being a Kuja pirate since she had seen many women on this ship with more scars than that. Across the table sat an extremely tall warrior, the woman must have reached a good seven feet plus, her long sandy brown hair came down to her waist in a braid and she had on what looked to be some kind of a blue helmet. Not exactly fashionable but at the least it matched her blue armor and it served its uses. '_Not like what that woman, Hancock, had been wearing the day before. There was only one thing something that slutty was good for and it wasn't fighting.' _Nami couldn't help but think and it surprised her because aside from the incident yesterday Hancock had done nothing to deserve such a statement. Turning her attention back to the three woman she noticed that naturally they all had different sized and colored snakes coiling around their shoulders and Nami couldn't help but cringe at the creepy animals.

"You're name is Nami-chan? I remember you from yesterday, Luffy-kun was showing you around?" Margaret asked, letting her own snake slither down her back to the floor. "I saw you eating alone and figured you'd like some company. This is Sweet Pea and Loki. We're friends of Luffy-kun." She said gesturing to the bulky woman and the thin, tall, woman in turn.

"Thanks, uh, your name was Margaret right?" Nami asked smiling slightly. Suddenly remembering the blonde warrior from the day before. Margaret nodded. "I really would like the company." She looked over at Sweet Pea and across the table to Loki, both offered her a smile and started eating their own food. Nami was a bit unsure but continued eating her breakfast in a much better mood.

"Luffy-kun has been talking about you for a while now." Loki said. Her soft voice didn't even come close to matching her size. Nami couldn't help the light blush at the woman's words. "He's been looking forward to finding all his missing nakama but you seem to be the one he mentions most."

Sweet Pea stabbed some eggs on her plate, like Luffy, she seemed to favor eating over talking. "Yes, the saga of 'we were curious'." Her snake was still lazily wrapped around her shoulders.

The navigator paused in her eating and sent a strange look over to the bulky warrior. _'What a weird way of speaking, what's with that?'_ Nami looked over at the other two to see if that was indeed normal, they didn't seem bothered by it, so she shrugged it off. "You're curious about me?" Nami asked, sounding somewhat confused as she pushed her empty plate away.

Margaret was feeding a piece of bacon to the reptile at her feet but looked to Nami after the creature hissed happily. "Yes, we're curious about you, Nami-chan. Normally we aren't allowed to interact with anyone outside of the Kuja or the citizens of our island. So having someone from the outside is very out of the ordinary for us. In fact, Luffy-kun is the first man many of us had ever seen, before we joined Empress-sama."

"Okay, you're going to have to explain that one to me." Nami said in disbelief.

"It means," a new voice interrupted whatever Margaret was going to say, "that we do not usually associate ourselves with outsiders or weaklings like you. Monkey-san and Rayleigh-sama are special cases because our empress has declared it so." A haughty looking woman with long black hair in a high ponytail -and far too much purple eye shadow in Nami's opinion- walked up behind the navigator. She frowned down at the younger orange haired woman in a way that reminded Nami of when an adult tried to scold misbehaving children. "Luffy-san is the first man in a long time that has been allowed to live after finding his way to our island of Amazon Lily but after saving all our lives in the battle with Marigold-sama and Sandersonia-sama he has earned that right. As for you, girl, I am not impressed. You don't look strong enough to even battle the children of our island. It confuses me as to why Monkey-san would want you to be his first comrade we find instead of a stronger fighter."

Taken aback at the unbidden sense of hostility for the second time in as many days Nami stared blankly at the older woman. _'That does it! What is the deal with all these women?'_ Nami gritted her teeth, fighting to remain calm, but she was quickly losing her temper.

Whether the others at the table could sense the rising tensions or not was a moot point because Loki stepped in anyway. "Kikyo, this is Luffy-kun's friend, we should be nice to her for him at least." The black haired woman scoffed at those words but closed her eyes and turned away. The other four women seated at the table watched her walk away in silence.

Margaret shrugged and turned to Nami after a moment. "Please forgive Kikyo, she's usually like that with newcomers." The blonde woman chuckled and looked back to Nami. "You're lucky, Nami-chan, she almost killed Luffy-kun when he first woke up on our island."

Nami's eyes widened but now that she mentioned it the navigator was sure Luffy had said something about a crazy woman trying to make him into a pincushion when he arrived at Amazon Lily. "And here I thought I was a special case." The orange haired pirate chuckled wryly and stood up. "I think I'll have a look around on my own today. Not that Luffy's tour guide skills are really bad but… they're bad. Also I'll need to introduce myself to your crew's navigator some time, so why not now." Nami grinned and started to walk off. Before she got to the end of the table Margaret stood also.

"Oh, we can take you to the navigation room, Nami-chan." The female warrior said with an excited grin. Margaret motioned to Sweet Pea and the large framed woman pushed her chair back. "Sweet Pea and I have nothing to do now but Loki has a watch coming up and we haven't talked with Rina for a while."

"It's very exciting. The saga of 'talking with old friends'." Sweet Pea exclaimed with a loud laugh.

"Say hello to Rina from me too, I'll come see her a bit later." Loki waved goodbye to the trio as they exited the dining hall with Nami shuffled in-between the two warriors.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Luffy was sitting next to Nami as they talked out on deck. Hancock had disappeared about an hour ago and the other Kuja seemed to get the idea not to bother them. The strawhat captain sat against the side of the ship with his hands behind his head leaning back on the railing. Nami had her legs folded underneath her and leaned backwards on her hands. "So Nami, you were really on a sky island? That's so cool." _

_"Yeah, the only bad part about it was I was surrounded by a bunch of crazy old men. I was able to learn a few new tricks from them though." Nami winked at Luffy playfully and grinned, thinking about the old man, Haredas-san, who she had stayed with her whole time on Weatheria. As nutty as he was, he also turned out to be a pretty good teacher._

_Luffy leaned forward, his black eyes sparkling with interest. "So you said that you were the third one back. I can't believe Zoro beat you." The captain laughed hard at that. To think that the directionally challenged swordsman would beat the Strawhat navigator to any destination._

_Nami frowned. "Only because he had help from that ghost girl that was on Thriller Bark. You know, I never did ask how they even started traveling together." _

_"Who knows, I guess we'll have to ask when we find him. Anyway what happened after everyone got back? Did the Marines give you guys a lot of trouble?" Luffy asked his smile still in place. He really wanted to know how the guys did without him there. Obviously they were able to hold off the Marine attacks 'cause no one had been captured but they'd split up again after coming back together so something bad must have happened to them. He looked over at Nami waiting to hear how the crew could have come to this but the look on her face wiped the smile from his._

_Suddenly the small grin Nami had disappeared. She turned her head away from Luffy and looked down, that was one thing she didn't want to discuss. It was something she didn't like to remember. That time after the crew left the Archipelago wasn't a very favorable time for any of the Strawhats. The black haired captain frowned as well when he saw his navigator's expression. "Luffy, I'd rather not talk about that." Nami looked up and sighed when she saw the younger boy's curious look. She knew he'd want a better explanation than that. Before he could even ask though she interrupted him. "Those were some bad days Luffy. No one even acted like themselves and it just wasn't the same ship or crew as it was before." She paused and let out a wavering breath. Nami shook her head sadly and glanced back up at Luffy. "Look, I just don't like thinking about that, okay?"_

_Luffy silently studied the woman sitting in front of him, his black eyes boring into her, trying to figure out an answer. She looked so sad thinking about those memories. Her brown eyes were downcast and she fiddled with her hands in her lap. He frowned deeply at his navigator. "Nami?" His eyes saddened when she only bowed her head lower. Her orange bangs covering her eyes from view, clearly worried he was going to start questioning her again. "So, uh, how did you get away from the Marines on Ussop's island? Your sister said you made a great escape." He asked in excitement._

_Nami scoffed and shook her head. She glanced up at Luffy who had his old wide excited grin plastered on his face. The navigator knew that he really wanted to know about what happened to make the crew split up again but she wasn't ready to tell it. She thanked him silently for knowing she wasn't ready to tell it either. "I wouldn't call it a great escape," she smiled gratefully at Luffy, "though I'm sure Ussop could make it sound like it was." _

Luffy drifted back out of his thoughts with a frown still on his face. He didn't like seeing that distant look in his navigator's bright brown eyes. He stood under the hot stream of water in his shower after his morning training with Rayleigh. He could feel his muscles relaxing and it seemed for the first time all morning his mind was calm. The day before Nami's weird silence concerning the crew took up most of his thoughts, not to mention the hostile vibe he had picked up from Hancock, and this morning he was occupied with not getting beaten to a pulp by a guy twice his age. It was almost a blessing because it was something normal to think about. He looked up into the showerhead and felt the hot water wash over his face and hair. It seemed now that he actually had time to think and all he could think about was Nami and what had happened to the others. _'How could it all come to this? I thought everyone was nakama. Anyway, I guess old man Rayleigh is right about one thing. Whatever's going on I'll find out from someone eventually. Nami could always talk to me before. What's so bad that she can't now?'_

Luffy lathered the soap and rubbed it across his body. His sore muscles loosening under the soft rub down of his hands. He thought of his other crewmates still to be gathered. It had been a year, such a long time to be without your nakama. Would he be strong enough to protect them? Would they have improved enough to take care of themselves in this new, dangerous, adventure he was dragging them on. Ussop and Chopper- the sniper, one of his best friends and not to leave out doctor Chopper, who was still rather young and innocent. Would they want to join him again? Robin, bright and clever as she was, could she forgive his lie? The historian had always been the more understanding of his crew. Zoro, the first mate, and the one guy he knew would lead him right, despite his own lack of direction. But he had failed to return the favor. Would he still have a first mate when the time came? Franky and Brook- would his two older crewmates look down on him for his deception? Brook was still so new to the crew when they were separated after all. Sanji wouldn't be happy if only for the sadness he seemed to have put Nami in. That is, if the cook returned to his position at all.

Would he still have their trust when and if they returned?

He reached out to shut off the water but stood under the showerhead even after there was no longer anything coming out. Luffy watched blankly as water continued to drip from his wet bangs. The mist from the hot shower rose up to fog the bathroom and Luffy finally stepped out of the shower to wrap a towel around his waist. He felt much better. Luffy shook his head free of the depressing thoughts and sprayed water everywhere like a dog. _'What am I talking about? I'll find everyone again. I don't care what I gotta do and they'll come back just like Nami did.'_

He could smell some delicious aromas drifting in from his room which meant food. "Smells like Hancock brought breakfast for me again." The young captain had gotten used to this sorta thing already. The ebony haired empress had done this several times. As well as brought lunch and dinner to his room to eat with him also. Luffy scratched his head in thought as he walked over to his clothes on the other side of the bathroom. "Come to think of it, I wonder why she does that? I mean Cookie's food tastes just as good in the galley and I also get to see Margaret and the others too. Now that I think of it. I wonder if Sanji would get along with Cookie when we find him?"

Boa Hancock was alone in her beloved Luffy's room, sitting at a sturdy table that was covered in delicious breakfast foods, of course plenty of meat was added as well. In the empresses mind it was what any loving wife would do- making sure your beloved had plenty to eat to start off his day. True she didn't serve him breakfast every morning that would be too clingy or so she imagined but today she had a special agenda.

This morning the snake princess had certainly dressed for the occasion. She had on a long red silk dress, it was Luffy's favorite color, that had a very revealing slit cut into each side almost to the upper thigh. Added to the effect of the dress was a dangerously low neckline that showed off her ample bust for Luffy's enjoyment. Though the younger captain was too well mannered to make a fuss over any such perverted thing. It was an outfit she knew would knock any normal person off their feet, man or woman.

Patiently waiting for Luffy to come out of the bathroom Hancock fiddled with the food on the table wanting it to look just right for her love when he saw it. "I hope Rayleigh-sama hasn't hurt him too badly this morning, he can be so rough on my Luffy-kun."

She heard the shower turn off and looked up at the bathroom door anticipating when Luffy would step out of the room. She quickly readjusted her dress to be even more eye-catching and waited.

Just short of five minutes after the water had been turned off in the bathroom Hancock heard the door being opened and looked up happily. Luffy stood in the door and the snake empress happily watched the young rubber man. The younger pirate's hair was still slightly damp and hung in his eyes, water droplets clung to him making his skin glisten in the morning light coming in through the windows. He was dressed in a clean dark red vest that was open down the middle and his regular blue jean shorts and sandals. Hancock's smile grew even wider at the sight of Luffy's well-toned abs through his vest. "Oh, good morning Luffy-kun." She said, twirling her fingers in her long hair shyly.

"Morning Hancock." Luffy grinned. His interest in her only lasted the few seconds for a proper greeting before he was at the table and stuffing his face.

Boa Hancock blushed at her love interest's greeting and almost faded away in one of her little fantasies again but she pulled herself out of it at the last second. _'No. I must be strong. I have to find out everything I can about that woman so I can be ready for anything if she tries to take my Luffy-kun away from me.'_ Resolving herself to not be distracted Hancock slid into the chair beside Luffy and leaned across to him, as a result making her breasts even more visible to him. "Luffy-kun-"

"Ihm ot marian u." (I'm not marrying you) Luffy said through a mouthful of bacon, eggs, and even more bacon. It would have been a miracle if anyone could have understood that. Hancock was not one of those miracle people. She pouted in confusion at not being able to understand her future husband's words of love, because of course, that's what they had to have been.

"Luffy-kun, I'm glad you're happy this morning." Hancock decided to start off causally in this semi-interrogation. "I hope Rayleigh-sama didn't hurt you too badly."

Luffy only shook his head, his mouth too full to even form words, and the empress smiled happily. "I'm glad. I know it's for your training but you push yourself too hard most times. Luffy-kun," here she started to get into the main point of the conversation. Luffy sensed the tone of her voice getting more serious and turned to look in her direction but didn't stop eating. "You seem much happier now for some reason. Ever since we left that pathetic little island you haven't gone off by yourself or looked depressed. Even just this morning I can tell a difference in the way you act. Why is that?" Hancock asked Luffy, being careful not to sound accusing.

Swallowing a mouthful of food, or in a normal case, ten mouthfuls of food. Luffy picked up a few sausage links from the table and looked back at the snake princess. "Don't know why I'm suddenly happy. Rayleigh seems to think it has something to do with Nami. Shishishi, maybe he's right." The rubber pirate actually put down the sausage and stopped his eating as he turned fully to the older woman. "It feels weird almost. I know it's only Nami and I have a long way to go before I get my other nakama back but I can't help but feel happy that I was able to get her to come with me. When I was spending time with Nami yesterday I felt normal again, like with her here it was all gonna be okay. My heart felt lighter too." He placed his hand over his heart and seemed to drift off for only a moment then grinned that wide grin of his and went back to eating.

Hancock stared at the young man in something close to wonder. _'That smile. I haven't seen that smile on his face for so long.'_ The empress turned away from Luffy for a moment, not wanting him to see her worried frown. _'Why is it that he seems so much happier with that woman on board? Seeing an old crewmate again couldn't make such a drastic change in someone. Could it? Even I couldn't bring him out of his sadness in the full year I have known him but one day with her and he reminds me of how carefree he seemed when we first met.'_

"Ah, that was good." Sighed Luffy as he leaned back in his chair and patted his satisfied stomach.

"Luffy-kun, you know I haven't gotten to learn much about your crewmate since she's been on board my ship. Could you tell me about her?" The snake princess asked as she subtly grabbed hold of Luffy's hand.

"Eh? You wanna know about Nami?" The young man asked letting Hancock have his hand for the moment. The snake princess nodded seriously. Luffy brought his hand up to think, releasing it from Hancock's grip. "Well, Nami's my navigator. She's the best navigator ever and one day she's gonna make a map of the entire world. She really loves tangerines and money and hates when we act like idiots and bother her. Shishi." He told her, laughing when he remembered all the bumps and bruises he and the others would get if they were too loud when Nami was trying to concentrate. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded his head as he continued. "She also really hates fishmen but I'm not gonna tell you why, that's for her to tell when she wants you to find out. Nami knows a lot of stuff about everything. The only one smarter than her is Robin, they both like to read a bunch of books, and that's why Nami can always answer my questions when I don't know stuff."

Frowning slightly at the fact that Luffy seemed to know more about the orange haired woman than he did about her, when he had been traveling for around a year with her, it made Hancock both sad and angry. She knew for a fact that Luffy had only been with Nami for a few months before being separated. So how could it be that he knew so much about that woman and not her? The empress huffed in annoyance, leaned away from Luffy, and looked out the window. Then she smirked, thinking of something she could surpass the other woman on, besides beauty- that was a given. "So, your crewmate is rather smart, but she doesn't look very strong. I'm sure she wouldn't even be able to stand up against anyone here on the ship. She's probably nothing but a burden to you, Luffy-kun."

Her words didn't have the effect she thought they would on the rubber pirate. "Nami isn't a burden!" Luffy yelled, jumping up, and slamming his hands to the table. "It's true she isn't as strong as me or Zoro or even Robin. No matter what happens to her Nami doesn't give up on anything. That's what makes her strong. And, she'll get even stronger in the future."

The intensity and anger behind his words made Hancock jump slightly when he slammed his fists into the table and even made the plates rattle. The snake empress was wide eyed as she looked over at Luffy. _'He has never yelled at me like that before. All because of something I said about her.'_ She frowned deeply as the image of Nami whispering nasty things about her into Luffy's ear crossed the empress's mind. _'It's all that woman's fault.'_

Luffy seemed to realize maybe he had sounded a bit harsh and instantly calmed down as he sat back in his chair. "None of my nakama are burdens, Hancock, they're all strong." He continued to frown at her for a minute before turning back to the remaining food.

Not in any hurry to have Luffy angry at her again Hancock decided to stay silent and watch the young man eat. By the time the last of the plates were emptied she could see Luffy was in a much better mood. "I'm sorry Luffy." She apologized but didn't really acknowledge why she was saying it, subconsciously, as a way to resist the thought that she forgave Nami for trying to take Luffy away.

"Well, that was really good food. Cookie did a great job, though she usually does anyway." Luffy chuckled, leaning back in his chair with a sigh. He grinned over at Hancock. "Don't worry about it. I know you didn't mean anything by it. You just don't know Nami yet. Speaking of which, I wonder where she is, I gotta ask her when we'll get to Ussop's village. I can't wait." He said in an excited voice, hopping up from his seat. The captain headed for the door in order to search for his orange haired navigator and get the answer to his question.

_'What? He's going to look for her?'_ The snake princess felt herself panic a bit. She was angry and worried that Luffy was going to Nami instead of her own navigator. In her mind it was just one step closer to Luffy walking out on her forever. She also wanted to make things right with him. "Wait Luffy-kun…" The rubber pirate stopped at the door to his room and looked behind him at the tall Amazon Lily princess. "…I can ask our navigator, she should be in the navigation room right now, that way you don't have to search the ship for your wayward crewmate."

Luffy raised a brow at the almost sarcastic tone when Hancock mentioned his 'wayward crewmate' but he brushed it off and smiled. "Yeah , okay, let's go."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Following the twists and turns of the long corridors and halls around the ship Nami was sure not to lose her two guides, Sweet Pea and Margaret, the orange haired navigator also made sure to memorize directions on the way to the navigation room. Her first assumption about the stocky woman, with the odd way of speaking, was correct. She wasn't a big talker but Margaret filled what would have been nervous silence with happily random chatter about different things or with introductions to other Kuja pirates the group came across. It was in this way Nami got to know even more of her current traveling companions.

"So Margaret," Nami began slowly, "you know Luffy pretty well after all this time?"

The taller, blonde, woman nodded with a smile. "Yes, I was the one who found Luffy-kun in the jungle when he first arrived on our island. I didn't know he was a man at the time and dragged him to the village where he was almost killed."

Nami gave a lopsided smile and eyed the two women with her curiously. She still couldn't believe there was any way Luffy could be mistaken for a girl. "I was wondering if you could tell me more about his time with you all? He did tell me some stuff but knowing Luffy he left a lot out."

"What would you like to know Nami-chan?" Margaret asked.

"Well, how 'bout what happened before the war? How did he get from your island to Marineford?" Nami asked curiously, looking up at the blonde woman.

"I don't know, Nami-chan. While I can tell you some things about afterwards, he won't talk to anyone about what he went through in that horrible prison or during his fight with the Marines." Margaret told her sadly as she shook her head.

Nami stopped dead in her tracks. Margaret and Sweet Pea turned around, wondering why she was no longer following. Her breath caught in her throat and for a moment she couldn't breathe. "Prison…? You don't mean… Impel Down? He went to that place… and came out again, how?" _'Luffy, I can't believe it. What have you put yourself through?'_ Nami stared wide eyed at the floor. Somehow she just couldn't wrap her mind around this information. She had only heard rumors about the infamous prison that held the ocean's worst criminals, each detail was worse than the last. Devilish guards, inescapable cells, and a demonic warden were the least of the prisoner's worries.

_'Uh oh, I hope I didn't give anything away. Hopefully Luffy-kun doesn't mind that I let that slip.'_ Margaret looked to Sweet Pea and then back to Nami. "I only know that much because Empress-sama was talking about it once within our hearing. Um, Nami-chan, would you not tell Luffy-kun I told you that. I don't think he wanted anyone to hear that part." She pleaded with the navigator, folding her hands in front of her face.

Nami nodded in agreement, still a bit shaken up by the news of Luffy's break-in of the formally impenetrable prison, but she took a few deep breaths and shook it off. _'Add it to a growing list of things Luffy has so far failed to explain about everything. But, then again,_ _it's not much different than me. Is it? Luffy wants to hear about why the crew split up but it hurts too much to tell it. Is that the same reason? Am I being too selfish wanting to find out about what happened to him and not tell him what he wants to know?' _Her frown deepened as she realized it probably was a bit selfish.

"The saga of 'Are you okay'?" Sweet Pea asked as the bulky warrior stood next to Margaret and looked curiously at the younger orange haired woman. A worried frown was on her face. In such a short time she had already made the decision that Luffy's crewmate was someone she could get to like.

"Do you still want to go to the navigation room, Nami-chan?" Margaret asked softly. The blonde woman was concerned about her new friend. All of a sudden Nami had stopped talking and seemed to fall into deep thought. And it didn't seem like good thoughts either, judging by the look on her face.

Suddenly brought out of her reflection Nami looked up at Margaret's worried face and then Sweet Pea's. "Oh, yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking about something." She chuckled and scratched the back of her head nervously. It still worried her some but decided against telling anyone else about it. The other two probably wouldn't get the reason for her concern anyway. "So, uh, we were heading for the navigation room." Nami said and briskly set off down the corridor in the direction the trio was headed before. Margaret and Sweet Pea looked at one another but then hurried to catch up to the younger navigator. They silently agreed not to question her about what was going on since they could both tell, she probably wouldn't answer anyway. Nami walked on as if the previous conversation hadn't taken place. _'You must have gone through so much and been in so much pain. I promise, Luffy, next time you won't be alone. I'll get stronger so that you won't have to do things by yourself.' _Nami began asking questions again and learning all she could about the ship and its crew. Even if she was on someone else's ship the navigator was determined not to be out done, after all, the future Pirate King needed the best.

After a few more minutes the trio of women came out on one of the upper decks of the ship and turned to the right. Nami stopped just outside the door and stretched in the early sunlight. It was going to be a beautiful day, the morning was slightly cloudy, but still quite warm. _'Being on a ship out on the open ocean again after all that time being back at Cocoyashi- even if it was by my choice- feels really good.'_ She thought as she turned to look out at the waves in the wide expanse of sea. There wasn't a speck of land in sight and Nami knew there wouldn't be until they reached Syrup Village, which wouldn't be until the next day, at the earliest. She looked over at the two women who she had gotten to know very well by this point in their little walk around the ship. They were waiting for her in front of another door, a sign indicating that it was indeed the navigation room.

The two Amazon Lily warriors entered the navigation room without hesitation and Nami followed after a moment. At walking through the door the orange haired young woman stopped in awe. It was a large room with wide open windows on one side that looked out over the ocean and also letting in the morning light. Curtains were drawn back from the glass panes to be used in case someone wanted to close them over the windows instead. Lining the back wall was a long table with protective glass shields covering several maps of various islands, Nami couldn't tell from where. The third wall, opposite of the windows, had four full book cases. From the titles Nami could see they were all varying navigational books on the oceans and islands all around the Grand Line telling of places she never even heard of. Also, a drawing desk that had been in use recently, if the open bottle of ink was any indication. In the center of the room stood a tall sturdy wooden pedestal with a glass dome on top, Nami could see the needle of a log pose inside. It was everything any decent navigator needed.

"So this is the runt everyone's been so worked up over? Huh, she doesn't seem so special." A voice suddenly brought Nami's attention back to the people in the room with her.

"Rina, this is Nami-chan. She's the navigator for Luffy-kun." Margaret introduced. "Nami-chan, Rina is our own excellent navigator. This is her first voyage off the island as well. The former navigator was injured so Empress-sama had to replace her."

Nami regarded the other woman with neutral expression. She was at least a foot taller than the Strawhat navigator with light toned skin and a spattering of freckles across her nose. Her light maroon hair was short and spiky and she had a long black bandana holding it out of her face. Her dark eyes had an arrogant gleam but betrayed her inexperience also.

Rina gave the same calculating look to the opposing navigator. _'What a weakling, there's no need for me to worry. Even if she does challenge me for my spot I could easily defeat her.'_ The maroon haired warrior crossed her arms over her chest and glared challengingly at Nami. "Listen girl, I'm the navigator here, I don't need your help. There's no reason you should ever come up here to get in my way."

Taking a half-step backwards Nami took a sharp breath but then returned the glare full force. She was tired of everyone's bad attitude towards her. Letting them catch a ride or not Nami wasn't about to deal with it for any longer than necessary. It just so happened Rina was the one to set her off. "What the hell is wrong with you? That stick up your ass twisted too tight or something?" Nami growled out. She was angry, not just at Rina, but the other navigator was unlucky enough to be the spark to Nami's already limited temper.

"What did you say?" Rina sneered haughtily. "You should be thankful we even let you come aboard instead of insulting us like that. Do you even know whose ship you're on?"

Nami's glare didn't waver. "Yeah. This is that stuck up, slutty, wanna-be princess's ship. Which doesn't change the fact that I've been ignoring too many insults from too many people since I boarded this boat and I'm now sick of it."

Sweet Pea and Margaret gasped at Nami's harsh insults to their empress but Rina scowled even deeper. "How dare you disrespect the Snake Empress! You better watch your mouth, commoner. You don't even begin to compare to how great our princess is!" The freckled navigator yelled loudly. Her arms now tensed at her sides.

Nami balled her fists and wasn't about to back down. "If that's what you call greatness then you can keep it. If the key to greatness is dressing like a high class slut and practically throwing yourself at Luffy then your princess really is the greatest."

"Shows what a little girl like you knows." Rina scoffed. "Empress-sama and Luffy-san are deeply in love and will be married as soon as he finishes what he set out to do. Heh, what would you know about true love?"

Nami blinked hard at Rina's statement. She never would have pegged Luffy for the marrying type, at least not until he became Pirate King. Anyway, when they were together the day before Luffy gave no indication of even being romantically interested in the Shichibukai. Even so, for some reason the thought of Luffy being with that woman made Nami's heart ache. She brushed it off as Hancock being all wrong for the straw hat wearing captain and it being just sad if Luffy was stuck with a woman like that. "Little girl?" Brow rising at that, Nami's frown turned into a laughing smirk. "Yeah right, you don't seem any older than I am. What would you know about true love?" The Strawhat navigator was able to reverse the question.

"It just so happens," Rina sent her own confident smirk in Nami's direction, "I'm 21 years old. So I would know more than you."

This almost made Nami burst into laughter. Even though she held back, a few chuckles still escaped her. "What a joke! 19 and 21 aren't that different. What do you think you know more than me?"

Rina stammered for a moment, going through her mental files, trying to find some amazing bit of information that would shut this new girl up for good. "I know more about navigating than you." She finally said in an only slightly unsure voice. "Out of all the warriors on Amazon Lily the empress chose me to accompany her on this voyage." The maroon haired young woman gained back her haughty tone and pose.

"Oh yeah? Well, Luffy chose me out of everyone in the East Blue to navigate for him." Nami took a confident pose with her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk on her face. _'Maybe that is a bit of a stretch but it's basically true.'_ Nami thought but it didn't show in her expression. The two navigators stood face to face, matching each other's glare, as they came to a stand-off. All the while Margaret and Sweet Pea kept silent on the sidelines. Their heads going back and forth with every quip and insult as Nami and Rina tried to one-up each other.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Good morning, Empress-sama." One of the warriors greeted. "You too, Luffy-san."

Hancock barely acknowledged the brown haired woman as she and Luffy came out on deck, heading to the navigational room. Salome, the empress's own large snake was coiled comfortably around her shoulders but the Shichibukai was rather annoyed. The whole way to their destination Luffy had hardly said five words to her, he was pre-occupied with finding out where that orange haired crewmate of his was, even though they were going to find out the answer to his question from another source.

"Morning Ryoko." Luffy grinned widely as he gave a wave to the older warrior woman. Ryoko was one of the Kuja that had taken some time to get used to having a man around constantly and had just started to accept the Strawhat captain. "Hey, have you seen my navigator?"

Ryoko stopped before she completely passed by the young pirate. She placed a hand to her chin and looked up into the sky as she thought about it. "I'm not sure, Luffy-san. I don't really know what your crewmate even looks like. I do seem to remember a young woman this morning at breakfast that I don't recall seeing before. She had long orange hair and a tattoo on her shoulder. Does that sound like her?"

"Yep, that's Nami." Luffy smiled happily. Hancock frowned in the background. "Do you know where she is?"

"Sorry but no. It seemed Kikyo was giving her a hard time before Margaret and Sweet Pea led your navigator away. I wouldn't worry though, I don't think it escalated into much of a disagreement, it looked like Kikyo was being her usual self." The brown haired woman gave a lop-sided smile and a helpless gesture at the woman's well known behavior.

Luffy seemed to deflate a bit but bounced back quickly. "Ah, that's okay, I'll find her later then. If Margaret and the others are with her I don't gotta worry." With another wave to Luffy and a bow to Hancock, Ryoko continued into the ship. The empress and pirate captain were left to continue on their own way.

Hancock hummed to herself, being somewhat happier, as they climbed the stairs to the upper deck where the navigation room was. Luffy had finally given up on asking everyone about Nami's whereabouts and she had him to herself- for the most part. "It's going to be a beautiful day, isn't it Luffy-kun?" The Shichibukai asked as she casually leaned over to hug Luffy's arm to her chest. He nodded and his grin seemed to light up the already bright morning.

_"It is a dreary day compared to your radiance my beautiful angel." Luffy stopped walking and pulled the blushing empress closer to himself. He wrapped his strong arms around her and there wasn't anywhere else she'd rather be than in his embrace. "The warmest, brightest, summer day is cold and gray when you are placed side by side with it."_

_"Oh, Luffy, you do say the sweetest things. I love you so much." Hancock giggled and blushed deeper._

_The raven haired pirate captain stared deep into the eyes of his beloved. He slowly brought his face to hers, just inches from her lips. "My love for you is so great, the heavens themselves are in awe. I wish to stay by your side forever."_

_Hancock pulled away reluctantly to look into Luffy's shining black orbs. "But, what about finding your crew? Isn't that important?"_

_"Those guys have lived without me for a year, they'll do just fine if I don't return for them. All I need is you by my side, I'll have all I need. As for that old crewmate of mine, the navigator, we can just let her off at the next island. Then it'll be just us like it has been." Luffy said softly as he leaned closer to gently brush his lips against hers in a pleasantly romantic kiss._

"Oi, Nami's there."

Luffy's excited voice caused the little day dream to crash around the snake empress as she opened her eyes to find herself back in reality. She looked around to try and spot the tell-tale signs of the orange haired woman. Hancock frowned in confusion when none could be seen. "Luffy-kun, what are you taking about? I don't see that woman anywhere."

Already a few steps ahead, Luffy turned to glance back. "No, not out here. I can feel her energy coming from the navigation room. Rayleigh said I'd been getting good at finding people I know with my haki but it's the first time I tried to find Nami with it. Shishishi, I probably could have done that before." The young captain ran the rest of the way up the stairs but waited for Hancock to catch up before going ahead again. Luffy ran to the door and threw it open to rush inside, this time not waiting for the snake princess. However, he came to a stop only a few steps in. He was right, Nami was here, but it seemed like he walked in on a bad situation. Puzzled, he looked from one side of the room to the other, trying to figure out what was going on. Hearing more than seeing Hancock walk in after him, Luffy didn't turn around to see her shocked expression.

Sweet Pea held tightly onto Rina on one side of the room. She was straining in the bigger, tanned, woman's arms still trying to get out of the hold. Her maroon hair was even more messed up than usual and was sticking out in random places. A large bruise was already forming on her jaw where it looked like a solid hit had landed. Her black bandana was askew, the Kuja navigator not bothering to straighten it.

Margaret had a hold of Nami and was keeping her in place with relative ease on the other side of the room. The Strawhat navigator was tense in the tall, blonde, woman's grip but she wasn't trying to escape. The tie holding back her longer orange hair had come loose and some strands had fallen haphazardly around her face. There were several deep red scratches on her arms and blood trickled down her chin from her busted lip as well. Nami shifted from one foot to the other and Margaret seemed to decide it was safe to let her go. She didn't try to restart the fight.

Both women looked like they had just come out of battle and neither seemed to notice the captain's or empress's entrance. Nami was breathing hard but she was calmer than Rina was, who was still fuming in Sweet Pea's arms. Once she was freed from the tight grip of the blonde warrior, at last, she noticed Luffy was in the room. Oh yeah, and Hancock as well. "Luffy…?"

"Wh…what're you doing Nami?"

"Rina, what is going on?"

Both leaders asked at the same time and the two women flinched under their respective gazes. Rina finally broke the hold Sweet Pea had on her but didn't dare look up to the snake princess. Nami wiped the blood from her chin with the back of her hand but couldn't meet Luffy's gaze either.

"It was nothing, Luffy, just a disagreement that got out of hand." Nami answered after it was apparent Rina was going to remain tight lipped about the issue. The freckled Kuja navigator glanced at Nami momentarily before shifting her eyes back to the floor.

Luffy swept his eyes over his navigator, searching for any indications that she was lying, or any serious injuries from the apparent scuffle. He wasn't gonna question her about it. He had a feeling this was something, like Hancock, that Nami wanted to deal with on her own terms. She watched him as he gave her a once over. He could see the apology in her eyes but he wasn't mad at her. However, as he looked Nami over, a sudden blush erupted on his cheeks. "Aah…uh…" The rubber captain had just noticed that one strap of Nami's tank top had been ripped and as a result quite a bit of her breast was visible- she wasn't wearing a bra this morning. He quickly jerked around in embarrassment and to make sure Nami wouldn't get mad at him and in turn charge him for the accidental peek. It wasn't like he hadn't seen them before- Alabasta popped into his mind- but he wasn't a pervert like Sanji or Brook.

"What is it, Luffy?" The orange haired navigator asked, looking around her for something that would have made Luffy blush. Yes, that hadn't escaped her keen eyes.

"Umm… your shirt, Nami." He stuttered, his blush deepening. Luffy didn't dare glance back to see Nami's reaction. If he had though, he would have seen Nami's cheeks match the red on his own face. Hancock, who had a good view of Luffy, glared hotly at the orange haired woman for causing such a reaction from her love.

Nami hastily pulled the tank top strap back up and crossed her arms over her chest, keeping her shirt up. She glared over at Rina when the opposite navigator snickered mockingly. "Did you need me for something, Luffy?" Nami asked, still blushing, but now decent.

At hearing her speak, Luffy dared to look over his shoulder. He sighed in relief when he saw that Nami had covered herself now and he turned fully around. "Oh, yeah, that's right." Luffy plopped his fist into his palm as he remembered what he was doing up here in the first place. "I wanted to know how long it'll take to get to Syrup Village."

"Tomorrow."

"This afternoon."

Rina and Nami both answered at the same time. The maroon haired Kuja glared challengingly at the competition across from her. Nami returned the favor. "What are you talking about, little girl? On our heading it will only take a few more hours to reach the island. We'll be there by this evening at the latest. It's sad that you don't even know your way around your own home waters." Rina scoffed as she walked over to one of the shelves and pulled out a large thick, leather bound, book. Flipping through the pages she placed it on the table and stopped about halfway into it. "Look here, we can cut right through this part of the sea and shave off a whole day."

_'She can't possibly be talking about the stretch of water that has that giant whirlpool, can she?'_ Nami walked over to look at the book also; Luffy was right behind her, everyone else followed. Rina looked rather confident in herself as she stepped back _'Yep, that's the one.'_

Hancock petted Salome and smiled as she looked over Luffy's shoulder. This was proof that her navigator was better and that Nami wasn't needed. _'Maybe now Luffy will see his error in judgment and keep depending on my help. Then he will come to love me even more because I was able to provide him with everything he needed.'_ The Shichibukai blushed, imagining how Luffy might thank her later.

"So what do you think about that?" Rina asked, she kept her eyes on Nami as the Strawhat navigator backed away from the map book.

"Well, two things, actually." Nami told her. A smirk appearing on her face as she kept her arms crossed over her chest. "One, this book is over 20 years old and so are these maps. And, two, the path you have us heading on will lead straight into a large whirlpool. So if your intention is to sink the ship then by all means continue in this direction." Luffy looked up from pretending to read the map, he still didn't know anything about how to read these things. A grin spread across his face as Nami showed the other woman up.

The Kuja navigator gaped open mouthed for a moment before rushing over to double check the map for herself. "You're lying. It doesn't show anything about a whirlpool on here!"

"Of course not. I did say these maps were over 20 years old, didn't I? This particular whirlpool was created only about eleven years ago by a change in the currents." Nami answered back. She was really enjoying this.

Rina fell into a flustered silence, unable to think of anything to counteract with that. The smile on Hancock's face disappeared faster than Luffy could say, 'It's time for dinner.' "It doesn't matter. We will continue on this course because it is the fastest way to get my Luffy-kun what he wants. My own navigator has decided on this heading and this ship will sail by what she says." Rina blushed heavily at the snake empress's backing her up. Salome hissed in agreement as well. "Anyway, if this ship does sink under my orders, I will be forgiven. If I am the only survivor because I only protected myself, I will be forgiven. Do you know why?" Hancock asked. Her head was bent all the way back, looking up the ceiling, and her finger was pointed accusingly at Nami.

"Because, I am beautiful!"

Margaret, Sweet Pea, and Rina swooned as the snake princess made her declaration. Nami stared in astonishment. "What kinda reason is that?" She yelled in annoyance once she realized Hancock was serious.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed as he held his stomach as if the Shichibukai had told a really funny joke. "You wouldn't just save yourself, I know you're nicer than that. So are we really going to sail through the whirlpool, huh?" Luffy asked excitedly. Already keen for some big adventure. Not that finding Nami wasn't exciting but it was getting boring sailing the peaceful waters of the East Blue, all the action seemed to be going on in the Grand Line lately.

Nami frowned in confusion at the fact that it seemed like Luffy had just ignored her advice. That in itself wasn't unusual or really bothered her. It was the fact that Luffy always took her advice when it came to navigating or the weather patterns, even if it seemed 'less fun' than he would like. _'Come to think of it, before we were separated, I'm sure Luffy never trusted anyone else's directions over mine. Could it be true that those two are closer than they look out in public? Are they honestly together?'_ Nami clenched her fists against her sides, looking from one to the other, trying to find any indication of why Luffy would choose Hancock's direction over hers. Again there was a heavy thump of her heart at that thought. _'Why does it keep doing that? Maybe I should get Chopper to take a look later, I hope I'm not getting sick.'_ Nami rubbed the spot over her heart as if that would make whatever it was stop. Her head was starting to hurt also from where Rina had decked her earlier, not to mention the scratches along her arms. While Hancock was busy discussing something with the freckle faced warrior and Luffy was pretending like he knew what they were talking about- Nami was sure he didn't by his bored stance- she took the opportunity to pull Margaret further to the side and quietly ask directions to the infirmary.

The taller woman did one better, she silently motioned Nami to follow her, obviously understanding that her young friend didn't want to let the others know she was leaving. Nami grinned in appreciation and thanked whoever was listening that not every woman on this ship was crazy/hostile. Margaret walked out the door with Nami following behind. The navigator turned to give Luffy one last glance, he was too preoccupied with swimming through whirlpools to notice she was leaving, sighing softly she shut the door.

"I'm so sorry to disappoint you my love. We can't go through the middle of the whirlpool but our ship is powerful enough that we will be able to ride the edge of it and not get pulled in. It won't add that much time to what Rina has already stated." Hancock explained sorrowfully to the somewhat disappointed captain.

Luffy pouted and turned to ask Nami what she thought, his navigator had been oddly quiet the last few minutes, or if she knew a faster shortcut. "Oi, Nami-" The captain glanced around but didn't see one orange hair in the room with him. "That's weird. Where'd she go?" He scratched his head in confusion, Margaret was gone too, the only one left was Sweet Pea.

"The saga of 'they went to the infirmary' Luffy-kun. Nami-chan didn't want to disturb you." Sweet Pea answered for him.

"Oh, of course, Nami was hurt wasn't she? I probably should have taken her to the infirmary first before talking about all that stuff." Luffy rubbed his hand over his straw hat nervously. "I hope she isn't mad at me for earlier." He blushed again when the image of Nami's half covered breast came into his mind and he pulled his hat down over his eyes to hide the redness on his cheeks. "I should probably go check on her and apologize and everything." With that the rubber captain hurried from the room, Hancock was left behind, fuming.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

By the time Luffy had reached the infirmary it was too late, the only one there was the doctor, and she didn't know where Nami had gone to after that. He tried using his haki to find her like he thought of earlier but there were a lot of different energies that he had to concentrate on and after a while his head started to hurt. It was a lot harder than just finding Rayleigh in an empty training room, so it was back to the old fashioned way. He then tried looking for her in her room. Not there either. And the kitchen. Cookie chased him out- those knives of hers were scary. He ran into Margaret but the blonde warrior had left Nami at the infirmary, so she didn't know. Luffy wandered up to the deck and stood still, thinking. _'Where did she go? Where would she go? Hmmm, she would be working on a map but we haven't passed any new islands for her to map. Or she would be in her tangerine trees but Hancock doesn't have any on this ship.'_ He crossed his arms and pouted.

Something familiar tingled on the edge of his senses and at first Luffy looked around for one of Rayleigh's surprise attacks but the old man was nowhere in sight. This didn't feel the same anyway. "It feels like the same energy from before and that was Nami when she was in the navigation room." The rubber captain grinned widely at his apparent revelation. "So that means… she's this way!" Luffy laughed and ran towards the bow of the Kuja ship where he could feel the sudden energy from his navigator. He didn't bother to think of why he could find her all of a sudden when he couldn't before.

"That moron. Why do I keep thinking about it?" Nami glared out at the sea in front of her as if it was all the ocean's fault. She could feel the currents start shifting beneath the hull of the ship as they got closer to the giant whirlpool and in the distance she could see the waters begin to form the usual circular shape. "So what if he decided to listen to another navigator's advice and totally ignored me? He has been sailing with them for a year, maybe he just trusts them." _'Maybe he trusts them more?'_ Nami left that unsaid but the thought continued to ring in her mind.

_'Shows what a little girl like you knows. Empress-sama and Luffy-san are deeply in love and will be married as soon as he finishes what he set out to do. Heh, what would you know about true love?' _Rina's mocking voice filled her head and Nami clenched her teeth tightly together. Her balled up fist connected angrily with the wooden railing as she let out a frustrated growl. "Gah, I don't care about that either! Why would I even care if that idiot, rubber brained, captain wanted to marry her? He can spend the rest of his life with that snobby bitch for all I give a damn!" Nami groaned and sagged against the side of the ship, her hands loosening their hold, all of her anger was spent. She knew she didn't mean a word of it. She did care that he had ignored her advice. And it hurt, deep inside, when she thought Luffy was going to marry Hancock. _'But, why…?'_

Luffy frowned as Nami came into view. Thankfully she had obviously visited her room and changed into a light yellow button up shirt and dark brown skirt. Nami had also fixed her hair again and had it back in a low ponytail. She was leaning against the side of the ship, looking out into the water, and she wasn't happy either. He could tell by the way she was standing with her head lowered and her arms crossed on the railing in front of her. Everything about her stance told him she wasn't in a good mood. "Nami?" Luffy slowly approached her. The last thing he wanted was to sneak up on her and get her mad at him. He saw her straighten up but other than that she showed no sign of having heard him. The Strawhat captain stepped up beside her and looked out on the horizon where the whirlpool was. He watched her out of the corner of his eye and they both stood silently for a while in their own thoughts.

The navigator saw her captain come to stand beside her from her peripheral vision. _'Luffy, what's he doing here? Is he angry at me? I don't see how he could be. It's not like he and the others had never gotten into pointless fights before.'_ Nami frowned. She was getting herself all worked up again and he hadn't even said anything yet.

It was Luffy who broke the silence; he never was good at keeping quite anyway. "I'm sorry about earlier." He shuffled his sandaled feet nervously and stared at the deck.

Nami finally turned to him in surprise at his apology. "You're sorry…?"

"Yeah, for… uh… ya know… when your shirt…" Luffy stammered around and blushed deeply. He really tried not to think about it but the memory kept popping up whenever Nami came to mind- which was a lot lately.

"Oh, that," Nami looked away as her cheeks turned a light pink, "well, it was an accident. I know you didn't mean it, anyway, it was kinda my fault. If I hadn't been fighting my shirt wouldn't have ripped in the first place."

Luffy smiled and nodded. He was glad Nami didn't look so distant anymore and also that she wasn't gonna charge him an enormous amount of beli for the peek he got of her. "Since it was just an accident I'll only charge you fifty-thousand belies instead of the usual hundred." Luffy wilted, it was always nice to hope. The raven haired captain pursed his lips and pouted up at his navigator.

She heard him mumble something about 'stingy' but she just laughed it off. Nami stuck out her tongue and winked playfully at him. "Don't worry Luffy, I'm not even charging interest. This time."

"Gee, thanks." Luffy grumbled. His eyes shifted downward where he could see a few band-aides over the scratches on her arms. "Anyway, what were you even fighting about with Rina? You wanna talk about it?"

"It wasn't anything. It really was just a disagreement between us navigators." Nami chuckled and shrugged. "Thanks for the offer Luffy but I can handle Rina." She brushed a few strands of loose hair behind her ear and faced back to the sea where the whirlpool was closer than ever. She felt better at knowing Luffy wasn't mad at her and that he actually had brains enough to apologize. However, what Rina said to her in the navigational room was still floating around in the back of her mind. _'One thing at a time Nami. We need to focus on getting Ussop and Chopper back, then you can worry about figuring this out.'_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

She was not happy. She hadn't been happy for the last few hours, ever since Luffy had run off, even more so now that he was completely off the ship without her. Boa Hancock stood rigid at the bow of the ship where unknown to her just a few hours earlier Nami and Luffy stood together and watched the progress of the Kuja ship around the whirlpool. Coming ever closer was a Marine base. They had already been in contact and the base commander was expecting them. Sometimes being a Shichibukai had its advantages. She had ordered all her girls inside, it was too risky. If one of them said the wrong thing they would all be in trouble along with her precious Luffy- and the other woman too. Salome hissed by her ear and she absently petted the scaly snake. He helped calm her down some and she would need to be calm in order to pull this charade off. The plan was already set in motion.

"Guys! Hey, you guys, we got intruders coming to the island! They're headed for the beach. Wake up!"

What are you talking about? Why would anyone come that way when everyone knows you have to get the base's permission to dock at this island?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you idiots! They're intruders and they're trying to sneak onto the island."

"Yeah! Finally a little action."

"Will you morons shut up, I'm trying to sleep!"

"Aw, Nami, I'm hungry." Luffy complained pitifully. He sat across from his navigator in the little rowboat as he worked the oars. Nami was wearing his straw hat just in case anyone spotted them coming in from the shore and recognized it from his wanted poster.

Nami turned from watching the approaching island to the rubber pirate. "Didn't we just have dinner, like, an hour ago? You'll just have to wait Luffy. The Marines won't be distracted by Hancock for long. We only have until morning to find Ussop and Chopper, get them off the island, and meet back with the others." Luffy's stomach complained for him and Nami only chuckled quietly, she shoulda known it was useless. "We can have a 'welcome back' feast once Chopper and Ussop are back on the ship with us."

Perking up at the thought of all the food Luffy began to row that much faster as his grin stretched across his face. "Yosh, we'll have the biggest feast Cookie ever made!"

Nami watched Luffy row with his excited grin lighting up his face and she didn't know whether it was from the thought of seeing two of their nakama again or the thought of the celebratory feast afterwards. His hat fluttered on her head and she reached up to hold it in place. Feeling the familiar texture of soft straw under her fingers Nami felt happier than she had been in a long time, everything that had happened this last year seemed like a million miles away. _'Has it only been two days since I thought he was dead and I would never see him again? With his clueless smile and stupid laugh?'_

Luffy shifted only his eyes to look over at his navigator and his heart skipped a beat. She was sitting at the front of the boat, holding his hat on her head, and gazing with a thoughtful smile out at the island. The evening sun glowed warmly down on the pair of them. The deep golden orange light caught in Nami's hair making it shimmer and her skin light up with a soft glow. Luffy's eyes widened. _'Did Nami always look this pretty in the evening?'_

The sun was sitting low in the sky when the hull of the small rowboat touched the sandy bottom of the beach. Ironically, Nami noticed that it was the very beach where Ussop had successfully defended his home from the cunning Black Cat pirates and their leader, Captain Kuro. With the help of herself, Luffy, and Zoro naturally. The two pirates hopped out of the boat and Luffy dragged it up the beach a bit. Nami walked ahead a few steps, this was all feeling very nostalgic, and took a glance around the tall cliffs that surrounded the island. She almost half expected someone to jump out and yell-

"Halt intruders!"

_'Yeah, that's exactly… wait… what?'_ Nami paused as the voice's deep echo faded. "What the-"

"Who are you? And what do you want? You should know this island is protected by the biggest and best Marines in the world. We have a whole squadron up here ready to kick your butts if you fail to answer our questions." The voice echoed again off the side of the cliffs. Suddenly there were several Marine flags popping out of the bushes around them.

Nami scanned the thick foliage at the top of the cliffs for who the voice belonged to while Luffy straightened up, a few feet behind, where he stood at the boat. "Oi Nami, that isn't Ussop, is it?" He whispered.

"I don't think so Luffy. I know it's been a few months since I last saw him but Ussop wouldn't forget what either of us looked like so soon." She whispered back and turned halfway to share a confused glance with him. However, doing so seemed to aggravate someone's trigger finger. Nami gasped as something whizzed past her face and she jerked backwards so fast she lost her balance on the sand and fell, winding up on her butt. Luffy moved in a flash and stood protectively in front of Nami as he faced the cliffs with a deadly glare. Slowly the navigator reached up a hand to her cheek and wiped away a trickle of blood. Wincing slightly at the touch Nami turned her own glare to the bushes and got to her feet.

"Y…yeah, that'll show you we mean business. Now answer our questions or you'll get worse." This time the voice sounded a bit unsure as if they hadn't expected to actually attack anyone.

Luffy tuned in his haki and used it to scan the surrounding area. Now he was for sure Ussop wasn't up there. He frowned deeper and then was gone in the blink of an eye while Nami kept a look out on the bushes above her. She grinned when she saw a glint of metal. Then she heard the sound of several panicked voices call out. It seemed whoever was up there had a voice distorter that they were all using so in turn it sounded like someone arguing with themselves.

"Man, what'd you do that for? We were only supposed to scare 'em."

"I'm sorry, my finger slipped. I didn't mean to!"

"Crap, where'd that guy go?"

"Our only chance is to get that orange haired witch before he gets us."

"Who are you guys calling a witch?"

"Can't you see, it's that woman down the- ahhhh!"

In a moment Luffy had disabled and disarmed the entire 'squad' of hidden guardians. At hearing the panicked yells Nami started to make her way up the slope to where she knew Luffy and the unseen fighters were. Unbeknownst to the group Luffy had disappeared into the forest and snuck around behind them. However, instead of armed Marines which was what he thought he'd find, the young captain stumbled upon something completely different.

=O=O=

Well that finishes this chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed reading. How do you guys like Rina? Nami not only has Hancock to worry about now. Sorry about Aphelandra being left out of the trio made up of her, Margaret, and Sweet Pea. I was rereading the Amazon Lily arc and realized just how big that woman is, there is no way she could be on the ship. So I filled in her spot with Loki. I had plans to show some of Luffy's training with Rayleigh but the chapter just got too long, I'll still show it, just in another chapter. Anyone who can figure out why Luffy can feel Nami's energy at both those times but not any others gets a virtual cookie. =)

So, Luffy and Nami finally start noticing each other. I know a lot of you LuNa fans out there are getting impatient and saying just let them be together already but you'll have to wait a bit longer. I'm planning a slow progression of their relationship. Hehe. Anyway, if ya'll hadn't noticed already I'm trying to stall on any real fighting till I know more about the Strawhats new moves and strength levels. But, barring that, the next chapter will have a bit more action involved.

The next chapter will cover "The Great Sniper Rescue Operation" - Ussop came up with the name.


	6. The Amazing Sniper Rescue Mission part 1

I'm a bit late and sorry about that. Personal problems arose but now have hopefully been taken care of. I only have this to say about the situation- if you ever date anyone make sure their family isn't crazy drama freaks that are intent on making each other miserable.

I'm so excited about this week's manga chapter, Luffy was totally awesome. Hopefully soon we'll be able to see just how far all the other Strawhats have come. I'm so glad the whole history lesson of Fishman Island is over and the real action can begin. I can't wait to see everyone's new moves.

Now on to story related news.

As I said before Ussop came up with the name for this chapter. As if you couldn't have guessed.

I had to split this chapter up, it just got too long. So this is part 1 and I'll post part 2 sometime really soon. Also, I have made a very important decision about this story. Most of you probably won't like it. I won't bog you down with details now. I'll wait till I put up part 2 and offer a full explanation then.

Okay with that out of the way, let's begin.

Disclaimer: One Piece isn't mine, I'm just borrowing

"Talking"  
'_Thinking'_

**-  
Chapter 6  
****The Amazing Sniper Rescue Mission- part 1  
-**

Just outside a peaceful, quiet, village stood a large white Victorian style mansion. It was surrounded by a high wrought iron fence and a well-manicured, sprawling, green lawn. The front entryway was a low built staircase that led to a long porch with two huge, white, double doors going into the house. Along the porch were tall pillars decorated with twisting rose vines. Wide open windows were spaced out all around the mansion. Most were closed for the evening but some were open to the cooling night air. Two large circular windows faced toward the front lawn and were situated over the porch roof.

The inside was richly decorated with lavish, beautiful, furniture. Expensive vases and paintings were placed in every room. The floors were covered by soft carpets, they were specially made, no sound was created when someone came down the hall. That was why, as the moon fully rose over the small island, two of the occupants of the house jumped when a loud voice shouted just before the first floor study door burst open.

"Miss Kaya! Master Tony!"* The curly haired servant, Merry, panted as he stood in the doorway. "There's trouble. Two people are at the gate. It looks like they've captured Rajin, Aron, Dirk, and Kira!"

Kaya was sitting at the desk when Merry ran in. The young woman's shoulder length light blonde hair swung around into her hazel eyes as she turned abruptly from her writing and looked up at the suit clad man in shock. "Wait, slow down, Merry. Speak calmly and tell me what's going on."

Sitting beside the young heiress was a small brown furred creature with a blue nose. Tony Tony Chopper was an excellent doctor and teacher, as well as, reindeer-human zoan devil fruit user. When Merry came running in, shouting, he wasn't surprised to hear those four names in the same sentence as 'trouble'. The news of their apparent capture was a shock though. More so that they were brought here. His tiny hooves tightened around the medical book he was holding.

'_I can't panic. I can't panic. I can't-'_

"Ahh! What do we do? We have to do something. Those kids need help, what do we do?" Chopper yelled, jumping off his chair and running in terrified circles.

"Chopper-sensei, don't panic." Kaya said. She got down on her knees to grab the little reindeer by his shoulders, trying to calm him. "If we panic then we won't be able to think clearly. Now, Merry, tell me calmly what is going on." She looked up steadily at the thin, white haired, butler.

"Of course Miss, there are two unidentified people at the gate. It sounded like a man and woman. They called the house using the front gate den-den mushi and are asking to be let in. I was able to hear the children's voices in the background. They seem to be alright for now." Merry paused and looked confused for a second before he continued. "Also, the woman said something strange. She said to tell the young student of Doctorine that he'll need an excellent navigator and determined captain if he wants to follow his dream."

Chopper couldn't say a word, he was speechless, his jaw hit the ground in his shock. _'It couldn't really be… but it's gotta be, they're the only ones who know about my connection to Doctorine, besides Kaya and Merry. But how?'_

"Doctorine? She was your teacher, wasn't she, Chopper-sensei?" Kaya asked breaking into the young reindeer's thoughts. She was kneeling at his side and looking down at the young reindeer.

Snapping his mouth shut Chopper frowned deeply, something bothered him about that message. "The crew is the only ones, other than you guys, who knew about Doctorine. So that means that the 'navigator' has to be Nami but why did she say 'captain' too? Luffy is…" He drifted into silence again.

Kaya looked puzzled and stood up from her kneeling position. "Nami-san? What could she be doing here? This is great, maybe she could help us think of a way to get Ussop-kun out of the Marine base. Merry, let her and her friend inside."

The butler nodded and happily obliged his mistress. He ran from the room to do as told and Kaya turned back to a still frowning Chopper. "You're still worried about who the other person could be?" The soft spoken young woman asked.

"Yeah, why would Nami call someone else Captain? After Luffy's death she was really upset about it, even more than the others." The little doctor looked down sadly and then glanced at the door.

Kaya frowned as well, even after all this time the death of their friend still affected both Ussop and Chopper deeply. "Well, I have an idea, if you will permit me. How about I go in first to see if it's safe and then you can come in after me." Chopper slowly lost his sad frown, and gave her a small grin, then nodded in agreement.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

In the parlor room there were a few long, plush, couches. The walls were a light gold and it was trimmed in white. The shelves and tables were a darkly polished red wood. The couches and chairs themselves were a deep red wine color.

Merry was standing near the door with a smile on his face after he had led the newcomers into the room a minute prior. Sitting on one couch was Nami, with Luffy's hat still on her head, and beside her sat the raven haired young man. Across from them were four youngsters. These same kids were the ones who had tried to defend the beach as Luffy and Nami landed on the island earlier. All four of them had bumps and bruises as a result of getting on the bad side of the orange haired navigator. Thanks to Merry the two pirates now had names to go with their assailants.

Rajin and Aron seemed to be the oldest of the group. A lucky guess would put them around ten. They were both brothers, which the fact that they were identical twins, gave it away instantly. Their short, spiky, brown hair and dark brown eyes matched each other perfectly. They were even dressed in similar clothes. Rajin had on a pair of light brown shorts and a black tank top. He was confident and on the rude and/or defiant side. Aron was wearing navy blue shorts and a light green tank. He had panicked at being captured by the two older people. The only outside difference between the two was that Rajin had a small scar on his forehead, just above his right eye, even smaller than Luffy's. Both brothers were frowning at their captors.

The next in line was Kira, a girl, she looked to be nine years old and seemed to be the one in charge of the group. Her long purple hair was pulled up in pigtails, the blue overalls she wore were grass stained, and her violet eyes would sometimes look up to Nami apologetically. Especially because the older woman's cheek still had some blood smeared across it and it turned out Kira was the one with the itchy trigger finger.

The last of the four was also the smallest and appeared to be the youngest. He was probably around seven or eight and had curly red hair with a mass of freckles on his face. He was wearing dark grey pants and a worn brown t-shirt. His green eyes were still teary from his crying, not from the bumps, but from the fear of having to face Luffy and Nami.

Suddenly the door to the parlor opened and Kaya walked inside. She took one look at the assembled group and gasped. Nami and the kids she expected but the sight of the black haired boy shocked her. "Nami-san? Lu-"

In a flash Nami was across the room and had covered Kaya's mouth with her hand. "It's nice to see you too Kaya but we really don't need any introductions right now." She motioned with her eyes to the four kids still in the room. Kaya nodded in understanding and Nami removed her hand with a smile. "Sorry for the confusion. Merry told us we had you guys a bit concerned. We had a little run in with these four when we got here and things got a bit tense, we were hoping you or Chopper would patch them up, and then send them home."

"Yes, of course, I'll take care of them and send Chopper-sensei in to take care of that cut on your cheek. What happened?" Kaya asked as she reached up to inspect where the bullet had grazed against Nami's skin. Kira made a nervous noise from her spot on the couch and the blonde doctor-in-training just shook her head. "Never mind. Come on children, let's get you cleaned up."

Rajin jumped up from his spot on the couch. "No! We ain't goin' anywhere. We wanna know who these guys are. They were tryin' to sneak on the island, they didn't even register at the base, and why did that witch stop you from saying his name? Argh-!" Poor Rajin hadn't seemed to learn his lesson from his last beating because, like last time, Nami had turned around and smacked the boy on the back of his head for calling her a witch.

Kira stood up as well and bowed to Luffy and then to Nami. "Sorry 'bout him and sorry 'bout tryin' to shoot you. If your friends of Miss Kaya I know you're good people so we won't tell."

"Thanks a lot." Luffy grinned and stood up from his spot. He leaned down to be on Kira's level and ruffled the girl's hair. "You guys aren't so bad after all."

Blushing slightly Kira allowed herself to be shuffled out along with the other three kids in her group, she let her gaze linger on Luffy as she left the room. Merry followed Kaya out, most likely to retrieve Chopper.

Luffy kept on grinning only now he was swaying back and forth on the balls of his feet. Nami sighed at her captain's impatience even though she could relate, she hadn't seen either Chopper or Ussop in such a long time.

"I think you have an admirer, Luffy." She chuckled.

Luffy looked puzzled. "Eh, what do ya mean Nami?"

"That little girl seems to like you quite a bit." Nami explained to her captain as she walked over to him and placed the hat back on his own head. He continued to look confused though, which caused Nami to laugh again.

The parlor door opened once more and both pirates turned to see the little, brown furred, devil fruit user slide around the door. Chopper was missing his treasured pink hat, and he was wearing a pair of dark green shorts, but otherwise looked the same. Half his face was hidden by the parlor door while the rest of him was clearly visible.

"Backwards." Nami and Luffy both said and sweatdropped.

Chopper epped and cringed but didn't try to change his position, his eyes were glued to the young man standing next to Nami. "Lu-Lu-Lu… but…you…how are…" Tears were quickly filling up the tiny doctor's brown eyes. He tore his gaze from Luffy and looked to Nami only to spot the blood on her cheek. He finally came through the door and fully into the room, his doctor instinct overriding his fear. However, he edged around Luffy cautiously in order to reach the navigator.

"He's not a ghost, Chopper. Trust me, I didn't believe it at first either, but he's real." Nami said, as if reading the young doctor's mind, she reached down to give the young reindeer a reassuring pat on the head when he reached her side.

He glanced over at Luffy again. The raven haired teen was grinning like no tomorrow, he didn't have any stitches or anything else like the zombies on Thriller Bark had, and he didn't smell dead either. After only a moment's hesitation a furry brown bullet shot itself into the stomach of the, long missing, Strawhat captain. "Lu~ffy~!" Chopper bawled into the vest of his, alive, friend.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Chopper's tears had stopped a while ago even though he was still sniffling occasionally. The young doctor was seated on one of the comfy couches in-between the orange haired navigator and his formerly dead captain. He was silent as he tried to take in the story they had just finished telling him.

"So, that's what happened? You were really alive this whole time, Luffy? You just faked dying and you lied to us, to go into hiding." Chopper asked. His big brown eyes were a mix of confusion, hurt, and happiness. "I… I guess I understand, but you still should've let us know!" The little reindeer yelled, suddenly angry, as he pointed his hoof accusingly at Luffy. "You hurt everyone, especially Na-phy…"

He was abruptly cut off as Nami hurriedly clamped her hand over Chopper's mouth. Luffy glanced up, surprised, into his navigator's eyes. She was looking back at him with a nervous expression, he could also see sadness, but she was trying to hide it. In less than a second, however, the expression disappeared and she was grinning again. Though it seemed forced.

She removed her hand covering the young doctor's mouth and placed it on his shoulder tightly. "Come on Chopper, don't be so angry about it, I'm sure it was painful for Luffy too."

"But Nami…" Chopper started but one look from the orange haired girl and he closed his mouth.

Luffy looked back and forth between his nakama as Chopper was trying to tell him something that Nami wouldn't let him. Somehow he got the feeling it had to do with the time Nami didn't like to talk about. The time after the crew got together again, after their separation. This only made his curiosity grow, everything Chopper was trying to say, and Nami's actions up until now. It was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle, only he didn't have all the pieces, some were still missing. _'If only I knew what Chopper wanted to say. I could help her not to feel sad about it anymore.'_ Luffy looked confused at his navigator, she wouldn't meet his eyes. Why didn't Nami want him to know what happened?

Slowly the door to the parlor opened again and the three pirates turned to see who it was this time. Kaya poked her head inside. She had given the three friends some time alone after the kids had been sent home for the night. It was nearing 10:00 p.m. now and she was anxious to hear what they were going to do about getting Ussop out of the Marine base.

"So, um, is everything okay?" Kaya asked nervously, she had heard her teacher yelling, and it took a lot for him to get upset enough to be really angry. All three nodded and she fully entered the room, in her hands was a long roll of paper, it caught Nami's interest right away. "Ah, that's good. So you know about Ussop-kun?" Luffy and Nami both nodded. Chopper had told them almost immediately, or more like he sobbed it into Luffy's shirt. "Are you going after him then?" The young woman asked, wringing her hands nervously.

Chopper looked to Nami and she in turn looked to Luffy. The raven haired young pirate just looked at Kaya like she was nuts. "What are you talking about… Ussop is one of us, our nakama, of course we're getting him back."

"But, we have to do this the smart way, Luffy." Nami interrupted. "We all can't go barging into a Marine base like we have before, not if you still want to keep the secret of your survival from the World Government. Not to mention we have to think about Margaret and the others. It would be way too suspicious if you just happen to be on the same island as them at the same time."

Luffy groaned, pouted, and slouched back against the couch. "Aw, but Nami, we have to get our sniper back. All we gotta do is knock everyone at the base out cold, then no one will see us."

The navigator sighed and looked down at Luffy with her hands on her hips. "Honestly, why didn't Rayleigh beat any brains into that thick head of yours?" Nami glared at her pouting captain. "How do you propose we knock every Marine on the base out at the same time without being seen? Even if it was possible we only have a few more hours."He crossed his arms and sunk lower into the couch, his lips puckered out. Nami had to admit it was cute. "But, if I'm right, I think Kaya has something that could help us. Right?" Nami turned to the other girl.

Kaya frowned determinedly and nodded as she walked forward. "Yes, this is a map of the Marine base. When it was being built I helped pay for a few of the training barracks. As a thank you, they sent me a blueprint of the base in order to see what I was helping build exactly, I never thought it would be used for this though." She laid the roll of paper down on the coffee table in front of both Luffy and Nami and unrolled it for them.

"I don't get it, how's that gonna help? I still like my plan better." Luffy said as he looked over the blue background and white lines outlining the base perimeter, buildings, and rooms. He didn't understand anything about it.

Nami, on the other hand, was grinning widely. This was her specialty. "Luffy, this map is the key to getting Ussop out of that base. If we can figure out where he's being held, then it will be much easier to get in and out." She looked over at Luffy to see if he at least understood that and surprisingly saw him grin and nod for her to go on. Nami blinked and smiled back at her captain. _'Maybe Rayleigh was somewhat successful after all.'_

She looked back at the map, with Kaya looking over her shoulder worriedly, and Luffy leaning back into the couch. He had his hands behind his head and looked for all the world to not have a care. Nami knew differently. She knew that he was leaving it all up to her because that's what she was good at. It also gave her a warm feeling that Luffy would still continue to trust her this much despite the things that had happened.

After some time of staring at the blueprint and questioning Kaya on everything she knew about the base, Nami finally turned to Luffy, who had been huffing and sighing in boredom the whole time. Amazingly, besides that, he had been quiet. Nami was surprised once again that the Strawhat captain had let her work on a plan in peace. It just went to show how much he had matured since she had last seen him. Before the 'Kuma incident' he would have been all over the place, making noise, and getting into stuff. Meanwhile, Chopper had been trying his hardest to keep up with everything that the two women were discussing, but eventually joined Luffy in being bored.

"Okay, I think I have a plan that'll work." Nami said finally, straightening up over the low table, and a wide grin spreading across her face. Luffy jumped up, at last with something interesting to do. Beside him, and just as excited, was Chopper.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Mou, this is so boring." Luffy whined from behind Chopper. The Strawhat captain was spread eagle over a soft bed, his head hanging off the side, frowning upside down at the little doctor. The two of them were in Chopper's room on the second floor of Kaya's mansion. There wasn't a lot of personal decoration to it. The only thing that looked like it belonged to Chopper was all the medical stuff laying around.

In front of the young reindeer there was a large suitcase, which could've very well fit Chopper himself inside it. Inside of this he was throwing all of his clothes and books. He was sure Robin would've been mad at the carelessness he was treating his reading material with but he had to have everything packed up by the time Merry and Kaya got back. They had gone to Ussop's house. He could feel the eyes of his captain on his back as Luffy watched him run back and forth around the room in his skewed upside down view.

Luffy sighed. _'I hope Nami's okay and comes back soon. Oh, that's right.'_ His black eyes widened as he remembered the question that had been hiding in the back of his mind this whole time. The captain rolled over on the bed so that everything was right side up again and faced his little friend.

"Hey, Chopper?" Luffy called his smallest nakama. The little reindeer stopped and turned around. "What happened to you guys? Why did you all leave?"

Chopper's brow furrowed in an obviously confused expression. "What happened?" He asked. Luffy nodded. "Nami didn't already tell you? I thought she would've already."

"No," Luffy pouted with arms crossed, "she keeps saying she doesn't want to talk about it. And she looks sad when she says it. If I can find out why she's sad then I can fix it and she'll be happy again."

Suddenly with a comprehending look Chopper's little mouth formed a 'O' and he sat on the floor, forgetting about his bag for the moment. "Oh, well, I guess that's understandable. I can imagine why Nami won't talk about it." Luffy only looked further puzzled. Chopper put a hoof to the brim of his pink hat, pulling it down over his eyes, he stared hard at the floor. _'I know why she won't talk about it and I don't really want to talk about all the hard times then either. I hope Nami won't be mad at me for telling this. She doesn't seem to want Luffy to know but I think it will help.'_

"I'm sure you know by now that was a hard time for all of us. All the papers said you had died and when you didn't show up at Sunny we all thought it had to be true. I mean, where else would you be? Everyone had different reactions. With loss comes mourning, it shows itself in different stages." Chopper said blankly as if he was reciting something from one of his medical books. "Zoro retreated to the crow's nest and his training. Ussop didn't talk for days. Nami… well, Nami was in denial. She refused to accept your death."

Chopper looked up to see if Luffy was still following and was glad to see he had the captain's undivided attention. He didn't feel like repeating himself. "Zoro humored her for a while, until the Marines found us. I was helping Nami so I wasn't part of the decision making but that night we left Sabaody when she was asleep."

"Chopper-sensei, we're back. Are you ready to go too?" There was a quiet knock and then Kaya's voice drifted from behind the closed door.

The young doctor jumped, the girl's voice startling him out of his thoughts. "Ah, I forgot! I still need to finish packing." Chopper began to rush frantically from one place to another grabbing things and throwing them into his bag. Outside the door Kaya giggled, hearing the noise. She left and headed back downstairs to wait for her teacher.

Meanwhile, Luffy sat still on the bed, on his face was a troubled frown. _'Nami didn't give up on me, even when the others did. And what did Chopper mean by helping her, with what? It still doesn't tell me why she won't talk about it now. I don't understand.'_ Luffy stood up from his spot on the bed and walked to the window. Outside the moon was bright and in its light lit up the starry sky. _'What is it? What won't you tell me, Nami?'_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

'_I wonder if it would be really cliché of me to say, this is almost too easy.'_ Nami thought to herself as she snuck down one of the long halls of the Marine training base. _'I know that Hancock would have drawn a lot of their attention and there are mostly just untrained soldiers here but this is just sad.'_ The orange haired navigator hadn't had any trouble breaching the perimeter walls or sneaking around the outside of the base either. This just made her plan all the simpler.

Meanwhile Luffy would help Chopper get Ussop's and his stuff on the boat, the navigator herself would sneak into the base and rescue their hapless sniper, and they would be back on the beach before sunrise. Thanks to Kaya's map of the base and some process of elimination Nami had just about pinpointed where they would be holding Ussop, the only question now was if he was in his cell, or had they taken him someplace to be interrogated.

Step after step, hallway after hallway, Nami continued to sneak deeper into Marine territory almost unhindered. She ducked down behind some packing crates as one of the few patrols she had run into came around the corner. The navigator held her breath as the two young soldiers passed her by unawares. They were too busy talking about the next day's training. When they walked past she let out a sigh of relief. "I told Luffy I wouldn't get caught and I'm not about to go back on that." She whispered, more for her own sake then anyone else's.

And yet, she continued to be met with little resistance. Following the map's directions that she had memorized earlier Nami slid around one corner to find the corridor empty. Then another and another. She was close to the cells now.

Nami peeked around one of the final corners to find the coast clear and continued on her way. "Let's see, if I remember correctly, the prisoner cells should be just down this hall on the last left." Nami looked around again, uneasily, at her lack of resistance. "Where is everyone? I can't believe I haven't been stopped yet…"

"Hey you! Stop right there."

"Damn." Nami groaned and face-palmed. _'I couldn't leave it alone, I just had to ask, didn't I?'_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The stars were twinkling brightly in the inky black sky as far beneath them the waves lapped calmly at the sandy shores of a beach just a few miles north of a quietly sleeping Syrup village. The beach was silent and empty save for the small group of four people who were crowded around a small rowboat. Or, I should say three people and one blue-nosed reindeer.

"Kaya, can you hand me that, please?" Chopper asked and pointed to a small box just out of reach from the waves. He was standing on the boat, getting everything situated.

The young woman handed her sensei the small wooden container with a sad sort of smile. "It will be so quite without you and Ussop-kun. I can't believe you both will be leaving soon."

Chopper placed the box safely on the boat next to a large bag of Ussop's stuff they had gotten from his house. "Don't worry Kaya, I'm sure those four kids will keep things interesting. If not, there's still Carrot, Pepper, and Onion."

"Maybe, but it won't be the same, I'll miss you both. I'll miss Ussop-kun's stories and our time studying. It will be like it used to be after they left the first time." She said quietly.

Chopper looked up at his new friend and temporary student. He had never looked at Kaya as a student of his before, and not even as someone under him either, though she kept calling him sensei. "You have your own dreams to follow though, Kaya. You want to be a doctor. I've taught you a lot but there is still so much to learn. It's the same with me and Ussop, we still have to complete our dreams, too. I'll come back for a visit afterwards. And, I know Ussop will come back here, he talked about you all the time when we were sailing with the others." He smiled as Kaya began to look a little happier and continued to help load stuff into the small boat.

Meanwhile, a few yards away, sitting in the cold sand was Luffy. He had long ago gotten bored just waiting for Nami and Ussop to show up but knew Nami would be very angry if he followed her. He sat facing the slanting path that led up and away from the beach. His two friends would have to use that to reach them and he was, anxious wasn't really the right word, but he wanted to see them safe again. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in his nakama, on the contrary, it was the only thing that was keeping him seated on the beach instead of racing off after them.

It wasn't in Luffy's nature to worry, it felt all wrong to him, so he tried his best not to. However, he couldn't just turn a blind eye to the dangers around him anymore. He had, at least, learned that from his brother's death. He knew Nami was doing something dangerous, and he knew Ussop was in danger as well, also he knew the consequences should it all go wrong. That was the thing that was making him worry.

"Luffy-kun, can you come over here for a second?" Kaya called out from down the beach.

The straw hat wearing captain looked over his shoulder at Kaya, who was standing next to Chopper and Merry, and the loaded boat. He stood up and dusted the sand off with a sigh that was very uncharacteristic of the old smiling captain he had been before. Luffy had just enough time to turn around when someone jumped out of the shadows.

"I knew it!" Rajin shouted as he pointed an accusatory finger in Luffy's direction. His younger twin, Aron, crawled out from behind a large stone. The brown haired boy tried to glare at the assembled group from behind his brother but the effect didn't quite come off as menacing.

Kira jumped from her spot as well and promptly smacked Rajin over the back of the head. Young Dirk inched his way out after the girl. "Idiot! I told you we were just gonna watch and see. Not give ourselves away."

Rajin turned the glare on his friend as he held onto his injured head. "What'd ya hit me for? I told ya that guy was no good. And, I was right, he's a big time pirate. I bet the Marines will take us more seriously if we give 'em 'Strawhat' Luffy's location." The older twin and the purple haired girl went back and forth with their little spat, not even realizing the audience they had. Aron and Dirk had backed away, used to this kinda thing already. Luffy, Merry, Chopper, and Kaya watched in mild interest and amusement as the scene played out.

"Well, you can stay here then." Rajin finally said with a scowl. "I'll go tell the Marines and get the credit when the Strawhats are captured." He turned to go but Kira grabbed for the young boy's hand.

"Wait, you can't." Kira pleaded. "I promised that woman we wouldn't tell." She blinked suddenly and turned to really look at the surrounding adults in confusion.

Rajin wasn't that easily deterred. "Yeah, well, she isn't even here." He told her but then paused as if realizing what he just said. He looked with Kira over the assembled group, not seeing one sign of the person they had been talking about. Rajin hastily looked around him, half expecting Nami to come out of the shadows and smack him across the head again. "Where is she anyway?"

It was at this point that Kaya stepped up beside Luffy. She knew these kids and they would more than likely listen to her more than any pirate. "I think you must have made a mistake children." The young woman smiled nervously as she tried to cover her mistake of calling Luffy by name.

"I don't think so, Miss Kaya." It was Kira who spoke this time, a determined frown on her face. "We heard you clearly call that man Luffy. As in 'Strawhat' Luffy. We're not little kids who can be fooled so easily…well, Dirk can still, but he's an exception." Kira said to them with a shrug in the little red headed boy's direction. The youngest kid blushed almost as dark as his hair and tried to slip behind Rajin.

"Yeah, we're not little kids. Tell us what's really going on." Aron spoke up for the first time while facing Luffy.

Kaya seemed at a loss for what to say, until Luffy started laughing. "Shishishi, I knew I liked you guys. Okay, I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and we really were sneaking onto this island earlier. One of my nakama is in trouble so we're gonna help him and escape here. Nami's at the base now, trying to get him out. I can't let anyone know I'm alive so that's why I'm not at the Marine base myself."

"Nami? 'Cat Thief' Nami? That was her?" Kira asked in surprise. "She looked too pretty to be a rotten pirate."

Rajin spoke again, seemingly satisfied that Nami wasn't gonna sneak up on him. "You said, 'nakama'? There aren't any pirate nakama on this island."

With a smile Kaya took over from Luffy. "Actually that isn't true, Rajin. The Strawhats are Ussop-kun's and my friends, Kira got it right the first time. They are good people. They've saved my life and this island. And, right now, they're trying to save Ussop-kun from being unjustly arrested by the Marines."

"Is that why he hasn't been around?" Dirk quietly asked from around the side of Rajin. It was the first time he had spoken in front of either of the two strangers. All three of the older kids looked at him in surprise and the little boy gulped. "He usually plays with me or tells me stories when ya'll are too busy." He finally explained softly.

"That long-nose is the 'friend' you're talking about?" Rajin asked suspiciously. "Why should we keep quite then? We all want to be Marines when we're older. If we hand over this information to the base, there's no way they'll laugh at us this time. Why did you even tell us, won't that put yourself in even more danger?"

Luffy shrugged as if it didn't matter one way or the other to him if they told. "I said it before, I like you guys, and I bet you'll make good Marines when you grow up. I'll even make a point to fight you guys for real when I'm King of the Pirates. But, if you want to put my nakama in danger, then you'll have to go through me." He looked out from under the brim of his straw hat and all the kids felt a shiver go down their spine.

There was silence for a minute as the children digested all this. "Huddle." Kira demanded and the three others gathered around the girl, Rajin somewhat reluctantly. After a while of whispers, glances, and gestures the huddle broke. The older twin didn't look all that happy but the others were smiling. Kira stepped towards Luffy. "I still think what I thought before. Miss Kaya wouldn't like you if you were bad pirates and also you would just kill us if you wanted to keep us quiet. So, your secret is safe with us, even Rajin." She motioned to the sulking boy in the back of the group.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

This situation presented two options for the young woman. One: run for it and hopefully find Ussop before the alarm was raised and the whole base was after her. Or two: turn to face the Marine soldiers and knock them out without causing a ruckus that would bring the whole base after her. However, being Nami, she chose the third option.

Slowly turning around to face the two Marines on patrol that had caught her off guard. Nami smiled sweetly at them. "Oh, hey guys, nice night for a walk, huh?" She asked making sure to sound as innocent and natural as she could. Although her heart was pounding so hard she was sure they would be able to hear it anyway.

"Don't give us that." A young Marine with sandy brown hair frowned at her. What surprised Nami was that neither he nor the other two had raised their weapons to her yet, so she continued to play along.

One of the others, an older man with slicked back dark blue hair, stepped forward. "There's a curfew for a reason, missy. You can't just come waltzing into the base at whatever hour of the night you feel like."

Nami felt like she could laugh out loud. _'A curfew. They're only after me for a curfew? Hah, that almost gave me a heart attack.'_ She had to fight to keep her expression neutral and not show her huge relief. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, please let me go. I promise it'll never happen again." Nami begged in her cutest voice, adding a little whine to it, that she knew men couldn't resist. The guy with blue hair hesitated and with each second Nami felt her heart drop.

"Well," the blue haired Marine said slowly, "I suppose, we'll let you off this once. I doubt the commodore will want to deal with this kinda thing tonight anyway what with that pirate empress around. But, get to your quarters right away, and don't let this happen again."

"Yes, of course, thank you." Nami said sharply in her best imitation of a Marine manner and waited for the two patrolmen to disappear down the corridor before slumping in relief. "That was close." Taking a moment to compose herself again Nami tried to figure out what just happened. "Wait a minute, of course, this is a training base so there are bound to be new faces here all the time. They must have mistaken me for a new recruit because of my clothes. Hmm, street clothes do stand out a bit on a Marine base. If only I could find a uniform to borrow I could get around a lot easier."

Suddenly voices came from around the corner, exactly where Nami needed to go. Acting quickly the navigator opened a nearby door and ducked inside before she was forced to explain herself again. Luckily the room was empty except for carts of dirty laundry.

"So what is the commodore going to do with the prisoner?" That immediately caught Nami's ear as she leaned against the door. Were they talking about Ussop?

"Don't know. The commodore is convinced that poor guy knows more than he's letting on, that's why the long-nose isn't getting out of the interrogation room until he gives us some answers." Another voice said, answering Nami's question, and giving her a clue as to where Ussop was exactly. "I don't know why that guy refuses to answer any of our questions. If he would just tell us who he was with that night he woulda been able to go home a long time ago."

The voices passed the door Nami was hiding behind and she let out a sigh of relief and turned back into the room. "So, that's that. Ussop wasn't in the cells after all and it doesn't seem like he'll be returning anytime soon. This will definitely make things more difficult." She whispered to herself but then rose a brow at finally taking in her surroundings.

She was in, what appeared to be, a laundry room. On one side were carts of all the dirty towels, linens, and clothes. The other side was where all the clean things were folded and hung neatly, ready to be returned to whoever they belonged to.

_'Lucky…'_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Luffy was back sitting on the sand and waiting for any sign of his two crewmates. After the excitement of their cover almost being blown the waiting game had gone back to being boring. Kaya had asked the kids to head home, now that they knew the island wasn't in danger of being overrun by pirates, but they stubbornly refused. All four were over by the boat now, talking to Chopper, they were justifiably shocked to learn he was the pet reindeer Kaya had brought onto the island.

The doctor was embarrassed to find himself the center of attention amongst the four young kids. Even Rajin seemed to forget himself and was just as curious and excited as the others.

None of the kids dared to approach Luffy even though he had relaxed against the sand some time ago. _'I wonder how Nami's doing?'_ The captain thought to himself as his eyes shifted to the moon hanging in the sky. It had been about three hours, give or take, since Nami had laid out her plan for getting Ussop out of the base and them away from the island. _'I hope she's doing okay. How can I tell when it's been too long? What if she's in trouble right now, how can I help?'_

His expression must have betrayed him because out of the corner of his eye he saw the young purple haired girl walk cautiously over to stand beside him. "You seem worried about something." Kira blankly stated and followed Luffy's example, looking up at the stars. She saw him silently shrug and his gaze lowered back to the path his nakama would be coming down. "You're worried about your friends? About Nami and Ussop?" She correctly guessed.

"Yeah." He didn't feel like explaining any more than that.

"Well, you should be." Kira told him with a worried frown herself. "The base commander is a pretty strong guy. Just because it's a training base doesn't mean everyone is weak here." She watched Luffy's brow dip in a concerned frown but he still didn't move from his spot.

Luffy turned his eyes to Kira, the same serious expression on his face. "You're trying to get me to go there." He didn't need to ask. The 'you got me look' on the girl's face told him enough.

A moment of guilty silence passed as Kira looked down at the sand. "Yeah, I want you to go. It's obvious you're worried about them, and Miss Kaya is worried, and Ussop is our friend too. We all want to know if they're alright. You're the captain, shouldn't you want to make sure your crew is still okay."

More than anything, these words were the ones to affect Luffy. As captain he should have been the one to put his life in danger first, not send Nami out to do it, no matter what she said to contradict it. If anything happened to her it would be all his fault and he would've already broken his promise to keep her safe. If only he was strong enough to reveal himself to the Marines again, this wouldn't be a problem, but instead he had to let Nami go in for him.

Without even realizing it Luffy had risen to his feet.

Chopper looked over at his captain's movement, the three other kids were talking to Kaya about how the crew had saved her life, and the doctor's brown eyes narrowed in confusion. Suddenly his eyes widened when Luffy took off at a fast jog over the sand, toward the cliffs. "Luffy, where are you going? Nami said to stay here." He called out.

"I need to see." Was the only thing Luffy yelled over his shoulder before disappearing up the stone pathway.

"Need to see what?" The reindeer doctor asked himself as he glanced curiously over at Kira as she ambled back to the group.

The only response to his questioning gaze was, "We'll know soon."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Nami knew that if Ussop was being held in one of the interrogation rooms she wouldn't be able to just walk out with him, dressed as she was now. She would need a disguise. And, like an answer to her prayers here she was in a room filled with them.

Rushing over to the far side of the room Nami started going through the lines of Marine uniforms. She was looking for a high enough rank to get into the room but not too high, where it would be unusual. "Ah, here we go." She exclaimed as a sergeant's uniform was brandished from the group. Again lady luck was on the navigator's side as the uniform looked to be her size.

Stripping her own clothes quickly, Nami tossed them into the dirty clothes area where they would more than likely be overlooked as one of the recruit's clothing. They weren't a big loss to her, it wasn't even her favorite outfit. She pulled on the pair of blue pants, an undershirt, and then the white uniform shirt and scarf. Then Nami started looking around for a pair of shoes and other accessories that would complete the outfit. After a few minutes of searching Nami found everything she needed and stood in front of a wall mirror to check herself over.

"You know, I look pretty good in this get-up." Nami chuckled as she adjusted the collar of her shirt, with her orange hair pulled back into a loose bun like this and all dressed up, she could almost see herself as an actual Marine. Had it been two years ago, before she met her rubber captain, she could probably have fit right into the Marine's fold. No more now though.

Nami was decked full out, from her shiny black shoes, all the way to the Marine cap on her head. In a sudden fit of nostalgia the young woman was abruptly drawn back into a conversation from her childhood as she stared into the reflection of herself as a soldier.

"_You can imagine how shocked the village was when she told us all that she'd be joining the Marines." Genzo said wistfully as he leaned against his desk. The warm summer breeze from outside finding its way in through the open door._

"_What, you mean Bellemere was in the Marines?" A very young Nami asked him, sounding completely flabbergasted that her adopted mother had failed to mention this fact to her._

_Genzo smiled gently at the little orange haired girl and chuckled. "Yep, that's right. She said she didn't want to stand by and let pirates go around hurting innocent people."_

Of course, Nami hadn't been able to question Bellemere about the subject, and she had so wanted to. Within the same day Arlong had come to the island, killed Bellemere, and forced Nami into an eight year long nightmare.

At the time, the navigator had never second-guessed the decisions that she made in order to collect the money she needed. It was just something that had to be done. But, on those long and lonely nights, Nami did often wonder what Bellemere would think of what she had become. Then, of course, Luffy showed up out of nowhere. With his happy, idiotic, attitude. The stubborn straw hat boy acted like some stupid hero, dashing to her rescue, and dragging her forcefully from her nightmare.

'_I wonder what kind of Marine you were?' _Nami silently questioned, lost in her thoughts. She tried to picture Bellemere in her place, wearing the white and blue uniform, getting ready to go on patrol or something. Somehow the rough-talking, cigarette smoking, tangerine farmer image Nami had grown up with couldn't be replaced by the picture of a mindless soldier. _'I can't even imagine you as a government dog, following orders blindly, but… Marines hunt pirates. Even good ones, like Luffy.'_

"You look so weird like that. Shishishi." A sudden voice interrupted Nami's thoughts and her eyes widened in her reflection. That voice was depressingly familiar. Shifting her eyes to the side she looked into the mirror to see a black haired young man climbing in through the window behind her.

Whirling around, hoping she had just gone crazy and he wasn't really here, Nami glared at the newest problem. "Luffy, you idiot, what are you doing? You're gonna get us all caught. How did you even find me?"

Luffy just grinned as he stood before her. "I used my haki. I got a pretty good feeling of your energy now, actually yours was a lot easier to recognize than anyone's so far." He scratched his head in thought about that before going on. "I was able to track you down that way. I was worried about you."

"You were worried about me?" Nami asked, looking back into the mirror to hide the slight smile on her face. Luffy nodded in the background, he didn't seem to notice he had again singled her out for his concern. Nami shook her head, trying to rid herself of any ideas to let Luffy come along with her, no matter how useful he'd be in getting out of a sticky situation. "Thanks for caring about me, Luffy, but you should have stayed with my plan. If anyone saw you here everything would go crazy- and not in a good way." She added, seeing Luffy's grin widen.

The raven haired young man still didn't move to leave, Nami could only sigh, beginning to straighten the scarf around her neck. "So, what makes you think I look weird in this?" She questioned him to keep the boy occupied and not wander off.

"Well, not really weird, but you don't look like you." He answered. Luffy glanced over and saw Nami's confused expression in the mirror and puckered his lips out in thought. "You don't look like Nami, you look like some weird copy. I don't like it." The eighteen year old pouted as he tried to explain.

Nami chuckled at Luffy's pouty face but then her smile turned warmer as she figured out what Luffy was trying to tell her, in his own distorted way. He liked her just the way she was. No changes needed.

Continuing to talk to the Strawhat captain Nami finished off the last touches of her uniform. "A lot of Marines aren't so bad, Luffy." She saw him frown at her like she was crazy and smiled. "Bellemere used to be a Marine, you know."

"Bellemere?" Confusion edged into his voice at the unfamiliar name but then he remembered Nami mentioning it before. "Ah, she was your mom, huh?" Nami nodded, not turning to look at him. "I bet she was a good Marine." Luffy laughed.

Stopping with her fidgeting, Nami finally turned to face the raven haired pirate with a raised brow. "Luffy, Marines catch and kill pirates. That wouldn't be a good thing. Anyway, how can you be so sure she was one of the good Marines?" She asked skeptically, not entirely sure how Luffy could sound so certain without even knowing the woman they were talking about.

"Because of you." Luffy answered simply. "I know she was a good Marine because she was a good person. And, I know she was a good person because you are."

Nami's jaw dropped. Yes, Luffy was something of an idiot, even now. He was impatient and impulsive. But, sometimes, the captain surprised her with glimpses of great intelligence. Of course, it was hidden deep in that rubber brain of his.

"Luffy…" Nami started to say, a soft smile gracing her features. The captain laughed, not his younger childish laugh, but a real one. Something that belonged to the older, more serious, Luffy. The navigator started to say something but before anything could leave her mouth the sound of the doorknob jiggling lightly caused both pirates to jerk around, interrupting the somewhat tender moment between the two, as a person on the other side began to open it.

=O=O=

*Merry wasn't calling Chopper 'Master' as in the master of the house but as a master teacher

Alright, where are you guys? I know you're reading. I'm getting the story alerts and favs but no reviews. The number of reviews for last few chapters was horrible. I'm not a mind reader you guys, I don't know what you're thinking if you don't tell me. At this point I don't care if it's good or bad. If it's bad at least make it constructive though, don't just flame me to death.

Next chapter is part 2 of Ussop's big rescue. How is Nami supposed to find their sniper and sneak out of a Marine base with him in tow? Will that Marine disguise actually help?


	7. The Amazing Sniper Rescue Mission part 2

Okay, I'll get this out of the way right now and just deal with what comes. I've decided that I really need to take a step back from this fic and actually see where I wanna go with it so I'm going on a long working vacation from this story. I hate the phrase 'on hiatus' cause I'm not really going on a hiatus. I'll still be working on this but it'll be pushed to the back so that I can concentrate on some other stuff that has been screaming for my attention lately. I'm giving this fic a minor overhaul in the meantime. Grammar, wording, and the like. Also I might tweak Hancock's personality and interactions; she isn't coming out like I'd hoped in this story. Yes, AnimeMaster24, I'm taking your defense of Hancock into account also and I realize I might have been a bit harsh on her at first. She won't change too much, she's one of the main antagonists as far as life on the ship goes, so she'll still be selfish and conceited. I'll try to tone it down though.

I know a lot of you are disappointed but I've practically had to force myself to write the last 2 or 3 chapters and I don't think I can do it again without a total brain frying episode. This story has really started to drag on me so I need a break. Geez, I'm not doin this again. Next time I decide to post anything longer than 5 chapters, I'm writing it all beforehand. No more planning chapter by chapter.

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**Ch 7**  
**The Amazing Sniper Rescue Mission- part 2**  
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"Hey Jones, hold up, I want to see if my uniform is ready in here." A male voice said as the doorway creaked open. Nami went into panic mode, not for herself but for her companion, who would give them away immediately if they were caught. Surprisingly it was Luffy who acted first, pulling the orange haired girl down behind one of the carts of linens. Hovering over her protectively.

In order not to be seen Luffy had to press in close to Nami as he felt the guy come nearer with his haki. However, something distracted him from his concentration, a very distinguishable smell wafted just under his nose. Luffy didn't know what it was but it smelled oddly familiar and nothing that should be in a laundry room. It smelled really good too, and like something fruity, like… like… tangerines. Looking down in surprise Luffy involuntarily inhaled more of the delicious sent that was coming from the girl beneath him. She smelled like tangerines and just under that was a trace of fresh parchment and ink.

The smell was Nami herself. The tangerines she loved, her very dream was imprinted on her. His breath suddenly hitched in his throat and for some unexplainable reason the thought that it wouldn't be so bad to stay like this flitted in his mind. Which didn't make any sense even to him because why would he want to stay in a stuffy Marine laundry room? Luffy's mind was suddenly racing as something in him seemed to wake up, though he didn't have a name for it yet.

Nami's attention was caught when she finally noticed that Luffy was getting unusually close. She had been focused on the nearby Marine and when Luffy's body moved nearer her attention had been drawn to him. His eyes were looking down at her instead of concentrating on the danger in the room and his concentrated stare was definitely making her heartbeat increase. Needless to say she was surprised at how close the boy was leaning over her and she couldn't fight off the dark blush that spread over her cheeks at Luffy's proximity. If she had been allowed, she probably would've jumped away already, but circumstances prevented such an act. Instead, she tried to look away from his steady gaze but all that she managed was to lower her eyes to stare at his chest.

With his vest open and hanging loosely around him the navigator had the perfect, close-up, view of his well-toned abs and chest. Nami ran her tongue over her, suddenly dry, lips as her heart pounded. Small beads of sweat trickled down Luffy's body from the somewhat stuffy room and warm night. She found herself focusing on the drops of water as they rolled and dipped to his body's lean but chiseled form. Nami swallowed hard.

An older man made his way over to the far side of the room where the clean stuff was located. If he noticed the window that was letting the nightly breeze into the room he didn't much care about it and he didn't pay attention enough to see anything else out of the ordinary. Rifling through the nicely hung up sets of white uniforms the middle aged Marine never noticed two figures crouched behind the stacks of sheets and towels. "Ah, nope. It's not here," he said finally, "I guess they haven't gotten to it yet." He turned to go but stopped when something finally caught his eye.

Luffy tensed as his dark eyes snapped upwards, his full attention back to the Marine in the room. Nami tore her gaze from her captain and held her breath not daring to peek around the stack of linens. The older man's footsteps slowed to a stop a few feet from where the pirates were hidden.

Bending down, the man picked up a uniform belt off the floor. "How did this get here?" He asked himself. Looking around and shrugging, he placed the object on a nearby folding table, and continued out of the room without a clue.

Both captain and navigator seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as the laundry room door closed with a click. As soon as the footsteps faded away Nami jumped up and turned away in an embarrassed huff. Luffy kept silent as she jumped out of his arms and fumbled for words beside him. He also decided, then and there, that Nami looked rather cute with her face all red like that.

"I don't believe this. You… you're… look what happened… what if…" Nami ran a frustrated hand over her face as she tried to get even a sentence out. She was flustered because of their recent situation, and embarrassed that while he had been so close some very weird ideas had run through her head, and she was also in complete denial that Luffy was the cause of it all.

"What would've happened if that guy had found us? There'd be no chance of getting close to Ussop. I… I had a plan for a reason, Luffy. You are going back to the boat right now and you're going to wait there with Chopper and Kaya. Got it?" A hard glare entered her eyes. One that Luffy knew meant there was no debating the issue.

Holding his hands up in defense the black haired young man backed away hastily, positive he was about to be pummeled. "Okay, I'll go. I'll go."

He watched her stomp away, not waiting to see if he complied first. Luffy didn't argue about going with his navigator this time, his mind was too preoccupied with why he had become so easily distracted. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. _'That was weird. What was I thinking? Nami's right, I can't get distracted, especially here.'_ Nami reached for the door handle but something in his gut told him to call her back. Without thinking Luffy did just that.

"Uh, Nami." The girl hesitated at the door before turning her eyes on him. "I… well, I just wanted to say… be careful."

Nami opened her mouth to reply and then stopped. A rising warm feeling traveled from the pit of her stomach to the top of her head and swept through every part of her. She closed her mouth. He had never said that to her before. Of course she knew he cared about her, like he did all his nakama, but it was the way he said it that made her pause.

"Don't worry, Luffy, this is me we're talking about." Nami grinned slyly trying to shake off the strange feeling. Her sly smirk returned to a soft expression as she saw his brows crease in concern. "But, thanks." And with that, she opened the door enough for her to slip out, leaving Luffy to head back to the others by himself.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was boring. These last couple of days that he had been in the care of the Marines hadn't been as bad as he imagined which was both bad and good. Good for his overall health but also bad because he'd at least hoped to get a cool story out of all this trouble. Ussop sighed as he sat in the middle of the room at a metal table that was connected to the floor. He was still in the clothes they had brought him in, and the food here was horrible, but mainly he hadn't given one speck of information about the night Nami escaped. That was what the commodore wanted. For whatever reason, he thought Ussop was hiding something. The fact that the long-nosed young man actually was is beside the point.

The first day hadn't been so bad. It was the commodore himself who had brought Ussop in and had treated the storyteller like a guest. They had still put him in this interrogation room but the questions had been in a basic interview style. Simple question and answer type stuff that Nami had grilled him on, long and hard, before she left. Name and family? Where he had been while away from the island for so long? What he was doing back now? Then they had moved on to the information they were really after but still being polite about it.

The second day it seemed the commodore was done playing the nice guy and had moved on to more serious tactics. Threatening and trying to scare the information out of him. What that Marine didn't know was Ussop had faced much deadlier things on the Grand Line and the fury of Nami's fists was scarier than any commodore. Throughout the whole ordeal the only contact he had with the outside world was the interrogators that came in every couple of hours to see if he would spill anything. Naturally, he didn't say a word and so he had been kept in this small, uncomfortable room.

He was able to move freely around the room and he was fed twice a day by one of the recruits. But, as stated before, the food was horrible. Ussop doubted even Sanji could salvage it. Well, okay, maybe only Sanji.

He didn't feel much like sleeping, the floor was too hard and cold, and the table and chair was just as bad. He missed being outside and talking with Kaya and Chopper. He wondered if they were worried about him.

In a fit of absolute boredom the former sniper leaned back in the uncomfortable chair and started making up Captain Ussop's Song 547 although he didn't really sing those anymore. What was the point when there was no one to sing along with? Or someone to yell at you to shut up? Or threaten to throw you into the sea if you didn't stop?

The ex-pirate was barely into the third verse when the door handle jiggled, alerting him that the interrogators were coming back. _'That's weird, they usually leave me alone at night. I wonder what kinda tactic they're using now?'_ He sat up in the chair, watching the door open. He had to be prepared for whatever trick they would try and pull this time.

To Ussop's surprise the usual guys that were in charge of him weren't the ones coming through the now open doorway. It was a young woman, barely older than he was. The standard, plain, Marine uniform couldn't hide her curvy figure. She was pretty, there was no doubt, but the curly haired sniper could tell she was all business. Her orange hair was pulled back in a low bun and Ussop felt a twinge of familiarity in his gut. The Marine cap she wore shadowed her eyes so he couldn't see but her lips were twisted up in a conniving smirk.

"So, it has come to this?" Ussop asked loudly as the woman shut the door behind her. He straightened even more in his chair, trying to make himself feel more confident. "You Marines think that a woman can get any information out of me when a man can't? The great Ussop-sama has more self-respect than to fall for such an easy trap."

The orange haired woman didn't speak. She stood back and let him talk, her arms crossed over her chest, the smirk on her face widened. Ussop banged his fists on the table in fake outrage but again it didn't seem to faze the Marine in the room. "I will never give you any of the information you want. You might as well do whatever it is you're going to do 'cause I won't say anything." He panted after his little tirade and only then did the orange haired Marine step forward.

"Are you done?" She asked mockingly, stepping closer to the table. "Well, it's good to know you can at least keep your mouth shut when it counts. However, you have no idea how much harder you've made this for me."

'_Okay, this is confusing. What the heck is she trying to say?'_ Ussop wondered to himself as he remained seated but kept watching the woman nervously as she circled around the table until she reached where he sat.

The Marine reached out and Ussop had to stop himself from flinching under her touch as she ran her fingers across his shoulders as she walked behind him. "I have a proposition for you." When she came to his front she bent forward to be on the same level but he still couldn't see under the brim of her hat.

Ussop frowned at the woman's offer. "No way. There's no way I'll take any kinda deal with the Marines." The surprises kept coming when her smile seemed to go even wider at his refusal.

"That's too bad." She told him, bringing her left hand up to the cap on her head and something caught Ussop's attention immediately. A small scar on the back of her hand. It was old and faded but Ussop would never forget it. The knife that had made that scar had also saved his life.

"And, here I thought you wanted to escape…"

Ussop gaped at the orange haired woman as she flicked the brim of her hat upwards and revealed her bright brown eyes at last.

"…Hana-king."

The young man could only stare open mouthed at the sight of one of his long-missed friends standing directly in front of him. "What…when…why…?"

"Well, that just leaves who and where, doesn't it?" Nami grinned back at Ussop from under the brim of the Marine hat. There was a decidedly mischievous glint in her eyes as she greeted the stunned sharpshooter. "You didn't really think we'd leave you here to rot, did ya?"

"Well…well…but, how did you know?" Ussop stammered out. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Nami, of all people, was here to rescue him.

The disguised navigator stood up straight, allowing Ussop to rise as well. "There isn't a lot of time for long explanations. I'll leave that to the Captain. In short, we arrived here a few hours ago and yours and our two mutual friends told us all about the situation. The fact of the matter is the Captain needs a good sniper and there's no one better than you." Nami refrained from mentioning any names in case the Marines had a hidden recording device but if that were the case they really needed to get out of there.

Ussop furrowed his brows in confusion. Something just didn't click in his mind. "Wait a minute. You keep saying 'us' and 'Captain'. Don't tell me you joined up with another crew?" His frown deepened and an accusatory glare formed in his eyes. "After all that happened, you would still turn your back on him. How could you accept another captain? Did you just brush his memory off so easily?"

"Shut up, Ussop." Nami whispered in a deathly quiet voice. The tone by itself made Ussop back up a step and shut his mouth. In spite of herself Nami glared harshly back at her friend, all traces of a smile gone. Even though she knew there was no way he could've known that it was Luffy she was talking about, she was angry that the long nosed sniper would say something like that to her. As her fists clenched at her sides she spoke in the same quiet voice. "I could never forget him."

Looking down in somewhat shame Ussop knew he had gone too far. "I'm sorry," he mumbled softly, "I didn't mean it."

Taking a breath to calm herself and shaking her head, Nami sighed. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't get mad. I know you'll change your opinion after you meet the Captain. But, we've wasted too much time with this already. We have to get out of here before any real Marines come through that door." With a sharp nod Ussop agreed wholeheartedly and was quick to follow Nami out of the room.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

This is where the difficult part of the plan came into play. Breaking in was easy. Finding Ussop was a piece of cake. Getting the long-nosed sharpshooter out of the base without being caught was a whole other matter. The halls were just as quiet as they had been when Nami made her way inside the base but with Ussop tagging along it made the young woman that much more cautious.

Before even getting started Nami pulled Ussop off to a side corridor that looked to connect two main ones. After making sure no one was nearby she took out the pieces to her clima tact. "Okay, Ussop, stand still. I'm going to make this a little easier on us."

"Eh, Nami…uh, what are you doing?" The sniper asked nervously as the orange haired girl pointed her weapon in his direction.

"I'm about to make you disappear." Nami told him with a twirl of the metallic pole.

"But, Nami, the Mirage Tempo can't make things disappear totally. It can only displace your image." Ussop argued. Second to Nami herself, he was the only one to know the limits of the Perfect Clima Tact. Ussop felt the temperature change as Nami put her plan into action.

Nami chuckled as the sniper slowly began to dissipate before her eyes. "I didn't spend all my time on that floating island with those crazy old men for nothing. I've learned a few new things myself." She said, watching Ussop completely disappear. "This is great. I didn't think it would work on another person. I would've tried it sooner but I didn't think it would work so well and getting caught before breaking you out of that room could've been a lot harder if it suddenly stopped working."

Ussop looked down at his hands, he could still see himself, but apparently whatever Nami was trying to do worked.

"Now, you just have to stay inside the mirage controlled area or else you'll be able to be spotted. If it takes too long I'll probably have to redo it again before we get out of here. Depending on the temperature around it the bubble doesn't last for very long." The navigator explained. Ussop nodded but, of course, Nami was unable to see it. "It would probably be best to stay close to me, that way I know if anything happens. And, we'll have to move slow since the bubble will have to move with you."

She was looking at a spot to his left, unable to see exactly where he was. "Right." Ussop answered and Nami's head jerked to where his voice came from. She nodded and led the way out of the side corridor with Ussop directly behind.

The going was slow with Ussop in the mirage bubble and Nami still trying not to run into anyone that could stop her for questioning. The up part was, she hadn't had to redo the bubble yet, and so far everything was going off without a hitch. Any Marines they had passed hadn't stopped her so either the curfew didn't include Sergeants or most of them didn't strictly enforce the rule. But, like anything involving any member of the Strawhats, you should expect the unexpected.

Nami turned one corner, trying to think back to the map, and remember how much further it was to the exit. Suddenly, two patrolmen came out of one of the doors in front of her. One had sandy brown hair and the other had slicked back dark blue hair.

'_Damn, what were the odds I'd run into them again.'_ She quickly motioned to Ussop and her eyes quickly darted side to side, searching for a place for her to duck into, but there was none. _'There's no way they wouldn't recognize me and how would I explain?'_ All she could do was continue on as naturally as she could and hope they wouldn't pay attention to the details. The blood pounded in her ears as the two of them passed her without a second look but just as she was about to release a held breath one of their voices spoke up from behind her.

"Sergeant, hold on there for a second."

Mind racing, Nami turned slowly to meet the gaze of the blue haired man. She didn't say anything at first, playing ignorant once again. After all, there was no reason to tell them something they might not know. The disguised pirate raised her brow impatiently as if she had better places to be. The Marine with the light brown hair finally turned to look at her also and Nami instantly saw the recognition in his eyes. Cursing her damned luck the orange haired navigator tensed slightly as the two of them came back towards her.

The guy with the slicked back hair opened his mouth to speak first. Nami suspected he might be the one in charge. "Sergeant, I'm sorry, but can we have your name?" He didn't come right out and say 'your under suspicion' but he might as well have in Nami's case.

Of course she couldn't give her own name, that would just cause more trouble than it was worth, and it was no use lying to them. Nami was now backed into a corner and her options were even more limited than the first time. She couldn't run because of Ussop still in the bubble, not to mention, her cover was basically blown now.

Ussop, while still being hidden, watched as all this was going on. He saw Nami tense up at the two guys calling her to stop. Looking back at the two men the sniper could see the suspicious glances between them and knew Nami could be in a bit of trouble. Quickly he backed away still keeping within the invisible bubble that Nami had created. Ussop backtracked to a storage closet he remembered passing. What he needed was probably in there.

At her hesitation the brown haired Marine pulled out a baby den-den mushi from his jacket. As he started to speak into it Nami couldn't do anything, the other guy had his gun off his shoulder and was now holding it at the ready in front of her.

"This is command." The little purple snail said in a rather deep, bored, tone.

"Command, this is Cadet Trey Baxter on patrol with Sergeant John Farr. We've encountered a suspicious person in corridor 25-Bravo. Request orders. Over." The sandy haired Marine said into the tiny receiver, maybe a bit too enthusiastically at catching his first intruder.

The poor little den-den mushi didn't have the chance to relay any specific orders because just then a metal bolt shot into the group, hitting the snail very precisely, and knocking it out of the Marine's hand. It landed on the floor, unconscious. All three, Nami included, gasped and stepped back from where the little metal piece landed.

Nami grinned, knowing instantly from who and where the mini-missile had come. She turned in his direction. The other two men in the corridor also turned, following her direction.

Behind where the Marines stood was Ussop, fully visible now, legs shaking and all. He already had another bolt at the ready. It was loaded into a long, stretchy, rubber band. "I, the great Ussop-sama, refuse to let you attack this woman." Nami could only chuckle helplessly at her crewmate. He would have made an imposing figure if not for the fact that he was trembling like a leaf in the wind. Before either Marine could make another move Ussop had shot two more bolts. Showing exactly why he was Luffy's sniper as they both hit dead on in the middle of the men's foreheads.

Nami stepped forward as the two Marines fell to the ground in unconsciousness. "Why don't you take a little longer next time? We'll have the rest of the base down around our heads." She grumbled to the sharpshooter but even though she complained there was a thankful smile on her face.

"Hey it isn't my fault you froze up like that. I figured you'd just fry these guys and we'd be on our way." Ussop shrugged in his defense.

"Help me get these guys out of sight. They probably won't be unconscious for long and we need to be outta here by the time anyone comes looking for them." Nami demanded as she bent down to grab the shirt collar of the sandy haired Marine. Ussop was left with the heavier guy and he led Nami to the broom closet he had found a minute ago. "Anyway, use your head Ussop. I couldn't have electrocuted these guys. Right now no one knows who I am and no one knows who you really are. With any luck they'll just shrug me off as a rogue Marine. As far as anyone can guess, we're not pirates, and we're not Strawhats. If they can't connect us to those two terms then that means everyone else can't be connected either. What do you think would happen if the Strawhat pirates were somehow linked with Merry or Kaya?"

Ussop visibly paled, which was saying something considering his dark skin. He stopped next to where Nami left her guy and dropped the blue haired Marine he was dragging. _'I never thought of that. If I had said anything about Nami or me being pirates then not only would we be in trouble but Kaya would be too. All because she helped us.'_ How could he not have realized that sooner? He blankly watched Nami as she began poking around the small room, obviously looking for something.

'_Things will definitely get more complicated since those guys didn't respond back on the den-den mushi. There's very little chance now to get out of here without a fight.'_ Nami dug through some of the cleaning supplies to be found in the cramped space. She saw a small box of nuts and bolts from which Ussop probably found his ammo but not what she was looking for._ 'There has to one in here. Where is it…? Ah ha, gotcha.'_ Nami grinned as she pulled a mop out of the corner of the closet. She left the old metal bucket on the floor and turned to Ussop with a triumphant grin.

"Oh yeah, we'll mop the floor with those Marines now." Ussop deadpanned at the sight of the dusty old mop in the navigator's hands.

Nami glared and had to hold herself back from punching the sniper into the wall. Reminding herself that this was not the time to punish anyone for corny, sarcastic, remarks. "You know, it's not too late for me to leave your ass here and let you find your own way out." She threatened darkly.

Ussop grinned sheepishly and waved his hands in front of his face as a sign of surrender. "Sorry. Sorry. I couldn't help it. But, what are you gonna do with that?" He motioned to the mop again.

"I'll show you." Nami told him with a smirk. A quick snap later and the head of the mop was broken off, leaving only the long wooden handle in the orange haired navigator's hands.

"Oh, hey, it's just like your staff." Ussop exclaimed happily, now that he had the idea.

The young woman tightened her grip on the mop handle as if remembering how to wield such a simple weapon. "This is really a bit smaller than my old staff but, yes, the idea is the same. It's been a while since I haven't relied on the control of the weather to help me. Not since Alabasta. Remember?" Nami turned to Ussop and chuckled at the face he made. Even though the Clima Tact had turned out to be the perfect weapon for her, she had still given the sharpshooter a good chewing out in the palace after everything was over.

"I think we're almost to exit. It'll probably be too much trouble to worry about the mirage bubble now. We need to move fast." Nami was almost talking to herself as she stepped up to the door after giving the wooden handle an experimental twirl. She turned to make sure Ussop was ready and then slipped out into the hallway again. Being less cautious this time the navigator led the way through the halls toward the exit of the building, hoping against hope that they wouldn't run into any more trouble, but it was always good to be prepared.

Twisting and turning through the long corridors Ussop followed Nami in the direction in which he hoped was the exit. Being a navigator he trusted her sense of direction more than even his own. "Oi, Nami," he called out as he continued to race ahead. "What're we gonna do after getting out of here? We can't possibly stay on this island for very long once they realize what's happening."

"Don't worry, we already have plans. Chopper's coming with us too, so he's getting everything ready. He's on the North beach. They should be waiting when we get there." Nami informed the sharpshooter without looking back.

'_Wait, if we're going directly to the beach, then that means I won't get to say goodbye to Kaya. I can't do that to her.'_ Ussop thought to himself, not paying much attention to his surroundings. This is why he almost ran into Nami when the orange haired girl abruptly pulled up short in front of him.

Standing in front of Nami was a whole group of Marines obstructing their way. There had to be about fifteen big men waiting for them, blocking the way to the exit. The navigator muttered every curse word she could think of under her breath while the sniper was shaking in his shoes.

"Don't tell me that there's only the two of you. You are the reason Baxter and Farr won't respond?" A large, burly, man asked as he stepped forward. He was at least a head taller than Ussop. Snickering he waved the other guys back, obviously very confident in his own abilities.

Nami eyed the guy. Outside of his bigger than average size there didn't seem much to him. She was in the middle of trying to figure a way to get past these guys, without too much trouble, when something metallic caught in her peripheral vision. Glancing sideways Nami saw Ussop nervously fingering one of the bolts he had taken earlier. She smirked. In order to distract the Marine she spoke, drawing his attention. "So, what's all this? You guys aren't going to let a fellow Marine pass freely? You could get into a lot of trouble for that."

"Don't give us that shit. You're helping a prisoner escape. That isn't something a true Marine would do, you're nothing but a traitor." The big guy sneered at the woman.

In a flash, several small thumps were heard as Ussop released a quick succession of metal bolts right between the eyes of five of the Marines, including the big guy. The five that were hit fell to the ground and those that weren't unconscious from the first round got introduced to a second. The long nosed sniper hadn't moved from his position beside Nami and the shots were so quick that the men hadn't even seen what hit them.

Following up on his attack and taking advantage of the momentary confusion Nami dashed forward with her staff raised. With all of her strength the orange haired girl brought the sturdy wooden handle down on the head of the nearest Marine. With a satisfying crack the guy crumpled to the floor and Nami didn't wait to see if he rose again. Using the speed and agility she had gained from years as a thief Nami dodged a few weak, confused, punches to get to the next one in line and smashed him across the face.

Only a few seconds into their struggle a general retreat was called. Nami grinned and the few conscious Marines scrambled to get away. In total she guessed that between herself and Ussop they had managed to take out nine of the fifteen. "Come on," she said and started forward again, "this is only a temporary retreat. We're lucky that we just caught them by surprise. It was a good thing they underestimated us and weren't expecting a full frontal attack like that."

"Yeah, I guess it was lucky on our part, but now I don't have any more bolts." Ussop said as he hurriedly followed Nami past the unconscious bodies. It was too bad they didn't have the time for him to pick up all the ones he used. They'd never get anywhere if they had to stop and retrieve them all.

"If we can just make it off the base we'd have a better chance of getting away." Nami told him as she started to run again. Ussop was right beside her this time. Suddenly the orange haired navigator grinned as she recognized this part of the building as close to where she entered at. "This way Ussop," she abruptly changed direction and headed down another hallway, "the exit should be right down here."

The sniper slid on the linoleum floor at the suddenly different direction and Nami couldn't help but giggle as a muttered 'damn' escaped softly from his lips.

They were almost home free.

Ussop couldn't help but let out an excited whoop as Nami threw open the door leading outside and to the warm, refreshing, air. _'Alright, it's about time. I haven't been outside in days.' _"Fresh air here I come!" The sniper readily followed his nakama through the door and took a deep breath as he enjoyed the feeling of freedom again- even though it had only been a few days- He looked up at the stars as Nami paused momentarily to search out their surroundings. She was panting from the running and adrenalin, and was still wearing the full Marine uniform, but she had a wide smile stretched across her face. She met his eyes and they both laughed a bit.

"Alright," Nami said as her expression became serious again after a moment, "this isn't a good place to rest. We still need to get off the base. They could still catch up to us easily here." The voice of reason in most hectic situations, Nami motioned Ussop to follow her. Turning away she started moving again, slower this time.

The long-nosed sniper felt this was almost like old times again and nodded enthusiastically, his curly black hair bouncing around his face. The pair of escaping pirates hadn't gone more than three steps away from building when suddenly something slammed into them.

Or more precisely, someone. The bulk of the attacking force knocked into Nami, only grazing Ussop. The young man stumbled back both from the hit and from shock.

Nami cried out as she hit the ground and slid a few feet before coming to a stop. That was definitely going to be sore tomorrow. The large something that had crashed into them now stood over her. She looked up, cringing as she tried to regain her bearings, into the face of someone she had already encountered a few times by now. The base commander, the same guy that had tried to stop her the last time she was on this island, and the one who came around Cocoyashi every once in a while.

'_He's a commodore now? Hm, must have been promoted.'_ Nami only had time to think before the man started towards her. Moving quickly, she rolled away from his reach and stumbled to her feet, raising the staff in her hands in a defensive position.

Ussop had been surrounded and taken down easily by a few Marines. He didn't have any way to fight back since all his make-shift ammo was gone. Struggling on the ground he tried to break the hold the men had on him but their strength was more than his. Looking up at his nakama, the sniper's brow furrowed in worry. She was facing a much larger opponent and wasn't able to even use her own weapon. "Oi, Na… you, be careful." Ussop called out, almost giving away Nami's identity, but was able to stop himself in time. _'Whew, that was close. I gotta remember not to say anyone's name. That would give us all away.' _

Hearing the sniper's worried voice Nami chanced a look in his direction and frowned. He was face down in the dirt with a Marine soldier kneeling into his back, keeping him down. _'There goes any hope for help.'_ Nami sighed mentally before turning her full attention back to the problem at hand.

Commodore Hiroki smirked confidently at the woman in front of him. He didn't recognize her as one of the Marines on the base but he didn't really care who she was at this point. "Well, little lady, what are you going to do now? We have you surrounded and outnumbered. Not to mention your long nosed friend here." He motioned to Ussop, who struggled to get out of the grip of his captors, but it was useless. The Marine commander grinned at the young man's failed attempts and watched to see what the woman would do. He wasn't worried, and was also in no hurry to put things to an end, as was obvious by his calm demeanor.

"What am I going to do?" Nami asked, trying not to let the uneasiness in her voice show. "I would think it was obvious. I'm taking my long nosed friend there and getting off this base." She answered with far more confidence than she felt at the moment.

It seemed her answer amused the older man because a dark chuckle escaped from deep inside his chest. "Needless to point out, I don't think it will go as easily as you say." He shifted positions, laying a hand on his saber casually, but not drawing it. It was a definite threat.

'_Shit. He had to have a sword. I'm no expert, like Zoro, but that thing looks sharp enough to slice through my staff way too easily.'_ Nami tensed and backed away a few steps to possibly put some distance between herself and the cutting edge of the Marine weapon. In her head she was scrambling to figure a way to get out of this. She could get herself away with little problem but then there was Ussop.

With no one to help her out of this one the navigator knew she had little chance of winning a fight of strength against this guy. No Luffy or Zoro or Sanji to come to her rescue at the last minute. Nami's grip tightened around the wooden mop handle and it was somehow comforting to feel that she had at least this. Her gaze turned back to the gray haired Marine. _'There's no way I can fight him.'_

Hiroki made a show of looking at his gold pocket watch before clicking it shut and putting it back in his front pocket. "Well, not that this hasn't been a fascinating conversation, but I really must be arresting you now." He motioned behind the orange haired woman.

Nami turned just in time to side step a Marine's lunge for her. "Bastard, trying a sneak attack like that. Can't even fight a girl by yourself?" She yelled at the commodore but not daring to take her attention away from the soldier in front of her. The new guy was much younger than the commander with spiky blonde hair and dark green eyes. Nami couldn't help but admit he would have been nice looking if he wasn't trying to capture her. Without further warning the young man charged. His fist was brought back ready to strike, once he was in range.

Ussop yelled out in alarm as the Marine dashed toward his nakama and renewed his fight to get free of the two soldiers that held him down. He did manage to get an arm free but that just earned him a hit on the back of the head. "Oi, let me up you jerks!" He shouted to them but could only watch helplessly as the young man drew in closer to Nami.

Nami watched as the young Marine ran for her with his fist raised. It was obvious that the time for talking was over and she had yet to find a way to either fight or run. She ground her teeth, wanting to run, but knowing she couldn't. The only thing to do was fight.

She watched the man's movements carefully as he neared her and just at the right moment, when his fist was coming down on her, and relying on nothing but reflexes Nami was able to dodge the first attack. Using his momentum to her advantage the navigator bent down and forward, taking the broken end of the staff, and ramming it firmly into his solar plexus.

Coughing and sputtering the young man doubled over in pain before falling to the ground. Nami didn't waste time in her small victory. In the next moment she was racing the short distance to where the commodore himself was standing, planning to take him by surprise.

It didn't work as well as she'd hoped.

He grabbed the end of her staff mere inches from connecting to his head. Nami grunted as her attack stopped mid swing and couldn't get her weapon back afterwards. His grip was like iron.

"Dammit, let go!" The navigator pulled again on her end of the wooden handle but instead she was thrown off balance as the commodore yanked hard on the half he held. His strength was far greater so she couldn't do much when the staff was forced from her hands. Now weaponless Nami faced even more impossible odds.

Hiroki chuckled as he examined the mop handle. The moving so fast in one swift movement he had created a smooth arc of motion with the homemade weapon. His mocking smile widened when it connected with the back of Nami's knees sweeping her off her feet instantly.

Nami hit the dirt with a groan, not sure how she had ended up in this situation. '_Stupid Luffy, coming back from the dead. Stupid Ussop, getting caught by the Marines in the first place.'_ From the ground the orange haired young woman glared harshly at the man looming above her now. _'And stupid, condescending, Marine commodores!'_ She didn't have a weapon anymore, she had no chance of fighting him hand to hand, and dawn would be breaking soon. There was only one tactic left to her in which to get out of this situation. It was a desperate move, it was not her usual style at all, and it was definitely uncouth.

It was also quick, painful, and effective. Which is exactly what she needed so what did she care for style and manners. As soon as the older man was in range Nami shot her right foot out and up with all the force she could muster and planted the shiny Marine shoe directly between his legs.

As she expected would happen, the commodore's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and his confident smirk instantly disappeared. He was obviously not expecting an attack like that. A howl of pain escaped from his lips and he dropped to his hands and knees, almost on top of her. Around them she could hear several sympathy groans and gasps from the men in uniform. Without wasting a moment of pity on the enemy, Nami rolled to her feet again, and made sure to grab her staff as well.

Now armed with the familiar weapon Nami rushed the two Marines who were holding down Ussop. Both men jumped to their feet at her approach, which was their mistake.

Again taking the make-shift weapon Nami leapt forward and before even one of them was able to do anything to stop her, the staff was cracking over his head. Meanwhile, now free from their hold, Ussop rolled to his back on the ground and grabbed the feet of the guy nearest to him. With a swift move the sniper had the second guy on the ground and had knocked him unconscious with a stone he had picked up.

Jumping instantly to his feet Ussop took only a second to see where the other Marines were before he felt a hard jerk to his arm. "Don't just stand there, move it." Nami yelled at him. Looking around he saw that she was alright and that it was her trying to pull him along.

Nami didn't let go of Ussop's hand as she kept a tight grip on the staff, although, the wood was now slightly cracked from all the hard hits she had dished out with it. Finally she felt him start to move on his own and took his hand from hers.

"That was really harsh, Nami. Did ya have to go about it like that?" Ussop asked as he ran beside her. He winced even at the memory of it.

"What are you complaining for? It worked didn't it?" Nami defended.

Ussop gave the girl an incredulous look as he sweatdropped. He decided, for his own health, not to mention just how much like Luffy that statement sounded.

The navigator looked over her shoulder and smiled. The soldiers didn't know what to do without orders and the commodore was still too breathless to give any out. Turning back around her smile widened as an old tree came into view near the base wall. "There." She said and pointed it out to Ussop. The sharpshooter nodded, and with a leap, scrambled up the twisted old tree and easily dropped over the side. Nami tossed the broken mop handle away and followed her long nosed nakama up the limbs and over the perimeter wall.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The horizon was slowly becoming lighter as dawn approached over the small island. The black night sky was turning into a lighter shade of purple even as the group of eight waited with varying degrees of anxiousness for their friends. It had been hours and while Luffy had come back, Ussop and Nami had yet to come down the slanting pathway that led to the beach.

Chopper was bouncing from one small hoof to the other, unable to sit still in his nervousness. He fidgeted with the brim of his pink hat, it felt just like it used to, and he was happy to be able to wear it again. Next to him was Merry and the kids.

The four youngsters were sitting on the sand, all showing signs of tiredness. The little boy, Dirk, was already asleep and the others didn't look too far behind. The curly, white, haired man was standing calmly with his hands behind his back. He was keeping an eye on Kaya and the only signs of worry were in his soft eyes.

The young woman looked worse than them all. Kaya was sitting on the edge of the boat and had her eyes trained on the path. She was constantly wringing her hands or playing with the hem of her blouse uneasily. Her thin pink lips were tightened in apprehension and turned downward in a concerned frown. Every once in a while her gaze would travel down the beach to where Luffy sat.

The straw hat captain was also sitting on the sand. He had his legs crossed in front of him, sitting Indian style, and was rocking back and forth in time with the waves crashing on the shore behind him. In his mind he knew Nami would be alright, she'd get Ussop and they'd be back any time now, the Marines wouldn't be able to catch her. However, he couldn't stop his heart from thudding loudly every time it looked like someone was coming down the ramp, and then the disappointed feeling when it would turn out to be nothing but a shadow flickering across the disappearing moon.

Kaya looked worriedly from Luffy to the pale setting orb lowering in the sky. It was almost dawn and still no sign from Nami-san or Ussop-kun. _'Where are they? Nami-san said she'd surely be back before the sun rose.'_ Her gentle, concerned, gaze went back to watching for her friends. _'I hope they're okay.'_

Abruptly Chopper stopped his bouncing and his little ears perked up at a distant sound. No one else seemed to be able to hear it but the movement caught Aron's attention, the boy wasn't fully asleep yet, and he sat up straight. This also caught Merry, Kira and Rajin's attention and they looked over.

"Is something wrong, Master Tony?" The older white haired servant asked. He had been quiet this entire time, opting to observe everyone, and also make sure Kaya would be alright. The four kids were sitting, or in Dirk's case, sleeping around his feet. At his voice the three awake children looked up and all within hearing distance looked over too.

Chopper stood still with his ears still perked, trying to pick up the sound he had heard again. "I thought I heard something. It sounded like footsteps."

Straightening up instantly Kaya stared at her brown furred teacher with a hopeful smile on her face. "Chopper-sensei, is it them?"

The little doctor just shook his head with an unsure look on his face. "I don't know. I can't tell. It doesn't sound like a squad of Marines though."

Luffy jumped to his feet, he was already laughing loudly and waving his hands in the air, but there was no one even in sight. Unknown to the group on the beach, the whole time waiting Luffy had his haki spread out as far as he could stretch it, searching for that familiar energy that was his navigator.

"Oi, you guys. Get the boat ready, we have to leave!" Nami's voice could suddenly be heard over the break of the waves. She sounded slightly panicked but as usual there was no room for an argument in her tone.

Kaya jumped to her feet and stepped forward a few paces, Merry looked over in interest, and Chopper was grinning widely. All attention was turned to where the two missing friends would come out onto the beach. And then, they were there, running down the stone path and over the sand.

The sniper ran even faster when he saw Kaya in the group of people waiting for them. He didn't even stop to see who else was on the beach with them. That was until a strangely familiar black haired, straw hat wearing, person stepped in front of him.

"Heya Ussop."

"Ahhh! It's a ghost!" Ussop screamed in a panic, suddenly slamming on the brakes, and falling to his face in the sand. Begging the 'spirit' of Luffy not to hurt him. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't haunt me."

Nami was right behind Ussop the whole time but of course wasn't affected by Luffy stepping out of nowhere to greet them. "Hey Luffy, is everything ready? We don't have a lot of time." She stepped carelessly past the prone form of the sniper.

"Wait a minute, Nami. You can see him too?" Ussop asked in astonishment as he looked up. His face now dirty with sand clinging to his eyebrows and nose. His wide eyes telling of the huge shock he was going through at seeing his old captain once more. He lifted himself on his hands and knees to see if Luffy's ghost was still around.

Nami, who was standing beside Luffy at this point, only smiled and shook her head at the sharpshooter's shocked expression. Luffy was laughing loudly. "Of, course I can see him. So can Chopper, Kaya, and Merry. Luffy isn't dead, never was, but he can explain all that later." Nami said for the second time that night when she saw Ussop's mouth open to question her.

"Now, pull yourself together. If you want to say your goodbyes then you better get to it." The navigator motioned to Kaya, who was waiting nearby.

Taking in Nami's words and eyeing the black haired captain suspiciously Ussop got to his feet and brushed the sand off his clothes. He edged around the other boy much as Chopper had earlier in the evening. But then his attention turned to Kaya when he had made it a 'safe distance' away.

Meanwhile Nami had grabbed Luffy's shirt and dragged him away from the two so they could have some semblance of privacy. They joined Chopper and Merry waiting by the water with the kids.

"I guess this means you'll be leaving with them?" Kaya asked, not being able to keep the sad tone out of her voice.

"I gotta." Ussop answered, walking up to stand in front of the girl. He reached up to place his hands gently on her shoulders, as reassurance. He could feel her shaking but it was too warm out for it to be from cold. "I don't think that commodore is just gonna let me go because of this. If I leave he won't have a reason to bother you anymore, and besides…" he looked in Luffy's direction. "…I made a promise. Whether he's a ghost or not." When the sharpshooter looked down at Kaya again he could see a clear understanding and acceptance in her eyes. He knew then he didn't have to explain anything further.

Suddenly Chopper jumped to his feet again, from his position sitting on the bow of the small row boat. "Guys, I hear a lot of footsteps coming this way." He called out.

Luffy's expression was serious as well and he looked at the path to the beach as if he was able to see beyond it. "I can feel their energies," he said without a trace of a smile, "they're not friendly."

Kira jumped up then, as did Rajin, and Aron. Everyone stared at the three children. Nami noticed them for the first time and the others seemed to forget they were even there.

"Don't worry about it." Kira said, determinedly. "We can buy you some more time but I don't know how much. You guys should leave while you still have a chance." Rajin and his twin brother, Aron, nodded in steadfast agreement.

"Hey wait a minute you three. What are you going to do?" Nami called after them. The friends didn't answer and raced past the adults and up the rocky pathway before anyone could try and stop them. The three gung-ho kids disappeared leaving the group of older people staring after them.

"I hope they'll be alright." Kaya whispered.

"Shishi, I wouldn't worry. They'll be okay." Luffy grinned, hearing the concern in the girl's voice. "Those guys will be great Marines."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A group of uniformed men hurriedly made their way down the forest lined road on the way to the North beach. They had been dispatched there to try and find the escaped detainee and the traitorous Marine woman that had helped him to escape. She was still an unknown factor.

"Come on boys. The commodore won't be too happy if we let them get away from us." The squad leader called back to his group. They were all steadily marching but somehow he got the feeling they wouldn't find anything there when they arrived. It had been too long since the escapees had gotten past the initial forces.

"Halt. What do you want here?" A voice demanded just as the Marine group reached a particularly thick part of the forest.

The lead Marine sighed and shook his head because he knew that voice. "Dammit, not now, you little brats." He challenged to the trees from where the voice had come from.

At the challenge, three small bodies jumped out of the trees at the dirt path's edge, two twin boys and a girl. One of the twins stepped in front, wielding a large metal pipe. "We won't let you pass. You have to go through us first."

The lead Marine groaned, visibly annoyed. "We're on an important mission, you three. Don't you get that? Why do you keep challenging people that come down here? You're causing so many complaints on a day to day basis."

"We don't care." Kira said, stepping up beside Rajin. "We'll keep challenging everyone so we can become strong enough to beat down anything that threatens this island. We won't even back down from a squad of Marines."

Kira nodded to Rajin. He in turn grinned back, showing he was ready for a fight. Aron was nervous as he stepped forward next to his friend and brother, he trembled, but he nodded showing he was ready as well.

"Yaaahh!" All together the three kids let out a battle cry and charged the much older, bigger, and stronger Marines.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Ussop, I hate to break this up but we need to do what the girl said. We need to get out of here." Nami said, already standing in the packed up boat. Chopper was sitting beside her and Luffy was still standing on the beach.

The sniper still had his arms on Kaya's shoulders. He turned sharply and looked hesitatingly at Nami's warning and then back to the blonde girl, not wanting to leave without telling her his deepest secret, one that he had been trying to say for a long time. He was still hesitating and still not able to gather enough courage to say it, even now.

She surprised him though when she turned away and motioned to Merry. The white haired butler quickly stepped forward and handed his mistress a long, thick, wooden box. No one seemed to have noticed that the man had been holding it this entire time.

Kaya took the box and turned to face Ussop again. "This is for you." She handed the box to the surprised young man. "I had them specially made some time ago. Just in case." She finished with a smile.

Ussop knew they had to hurry, he could see Nami worriedly glance over in the direction the kids ran off and then to the quickly lightening sky, but he didn't care at the moment. He didn't want to wait to see what Kaya had gotten him and disrespect her by not thanking her. So, as fast as he could, he unfastened the latches on the wooden box. It wasn't wrapped but the box was decoratively carved.

When the lid creaked open, at first, Ussop couldn't believe his eyes. Inside the box was a pair of long pistols. He could tell at a glance they were well made. Finely polished steel for the barrels and some other kind of crafted metal for the handles. He was in awe. The sharpshooter had never seen a pair of such fine firearms. And they were his.

"I know you don't use regular bullets like other pirates do so I had these specially made by a weapons specialist so they would fire your ammunition instead." Kaya explained hurriedly, knowing that the group had to get going.

The lid closed with a snap and Ussop flipped the latch to keep the lid locked. He stared down at the box in silence. "This is too much." He mumbled so quietly Kaya couldn't even hear him. The long nosed young man suddenly looked up with a strange determination in his eyes. "Kaya, I've wanted to say something for a long time and now may be my last chance until I can complete my dream. I have to say it now or I know I'll regret it. I-"

He stopped short, suddenly losing his resolve at the last second. Kaya stood there with held breath, hoping that what she was thinking was right.

"I-" Ussop was silenced again.

"Forget it!" He growled in frustration and grabbed the pale blonde girl with one hand, his other holding the pistols, and leaned down to bring his lips to hers. Relief flooded through him because finally he had been able to, at least, show her how he felt. For good or bad he was able to get his feelings out.

It was better than he always imagined. Her lips were soft, even softer than her smooth skin. And the few seconds that the kiss actually lasted seemed, to Ussop, to drag on for a blissful eternity. After a short time he pulled his lips away, his cheeks already red as a cherry, and then stepped back from her.

Kaya had closed her eyes at some point during the exchange and she kept them closed a few moments after the young man pulled away. When she opened them it was somehow reassuring to see Ussop blushing because then she knew she matched him. Her cheeks were an inflamed red, bringing a lot of color to her normally pale cheeks. "Ussop…"

"Sorry. I'm sorry." The nervous sniper suddenly exclaimed. "I don't know what made me do that."

"Ussop!" She shouted and it was the fact that she actually raised her voice that caught the young man's attention. He quieted down. "I'll wait for you, alright." For a second surprise the young woman leaned up to place a more chaste kiss on the pirate's lips.

Ussop couldn't believe it, he was actually stunned speechless, and in shock. He didn't expect Kaya to return his kiss and he definitely didn't expect her to wait for him. She giggled at the boy's disbelieving stare and gave him a gentle push to get him walking in the direction of his waiting crewmates since he seemed to be rooted to his spot in the sand.

Chopper was smiling widely and holding in his own embarrassed giggles. Getting to watch everything unfold for all these months, the young doctor was happy this had finally happened one way or the other. Ussop had been saying he would tell Kaya his feelings for a long time now but had never done it.

Luffy had climbed into the boat and was laughing at his friend's dazed expression. He didn't really care about the sniper's kiss, he was just happy that Ussop was joining him again. The captain watched his nakama stumble to the boat with a wide grin. Inside his mind though, things had turned weird again. When Ussop had done that, Luffy had immediately looked over at Nami to see her reaction. When he saw her wide-eyed expression along with her red face his thoughts seemed to turn more toward her than Ussop. He remembered how good she had smelled back in the laundry room and couldn't help wondering if she tasted just as good. He didn't want to ask about it though because it would probably just make Nami mad.

During the kiss Nami could only stare, open-mouthed, at her long nosed nakama. _'Since when did he have the guts to do something like that?'_ As the kiss ended, her face was probably as red as Kaya's from witnessing such an intimate moment between the two. Her eyes flickered to Luffy, who was grinning like an idiot, and had to struggle to keep any more blood rushing to her cheeks. For the briefest of moments the wandering thought of what it would feel like to kiss Luffy entered into her head- only to be violently squashed by her more rational mind. _'What am I thinking? This is Luffy we're talking about here. Okay, I'll give, that he looks good. Really good. But, does he even understand what that means anyway? There's no way we could be like that.'_

When Ussop clamored into the boat the noise pulled the captain and navigator out of their more personal thoughts and back to what was going on now. Ussop was still sitting there in a dazed stupor so Luffy gave the boat a good push off before jumping back in to start rowing out to sea as he had done coming to the island hours before.

Chopper stood facing the beach and waving his little hooves in the air, it was getting lighter every second, so he could be easily seen even without having to transform into his bigger form. "Kaya, you'll be a great doctor. Keep studying." He yelled back to the young woman.

"Chopper-sensei, Nami-san, Luffy, thank you all. Good luck." Kaya yelled back, her slight form getting smaller with every stroke of the oar.

Ussop, hearing Kaya's voice from the distance, yanked himself out of his stunned state. He looked surprised that he was on the boat and they were already so far from the beach. Jumping over Chopper and all but falling out of the small dinghy Ussop waved his hands in the air wildly as a last farewell to his home island and the one special person on it. "Kaya, I'll be back someday, and that's no lie. When I'm a great warrior of the sea I'll be back, I promise."

Kaya shouted something but already they were too far out for Ussop to hear, Chopper could though. "She said, she'll become a great doctor, so that even if you come back injured, she can fix you up again." The little reindeer explained with a grin.

With a happy sigh Ussop collapsed onto the wooden seat of the boat and leaned back in contentment. Nami was just about to give Luffy a direction to head in when he jerked up with a start. "By the way," he pointed an accusing finger directly at the straw hat wearing pirate, "what are you doing alive?"

Luffy only smiled sadly, showing his serious side again, and shook his head. "I'll tell you on board." He told his friend and then pointed when he saw Ussop's confused look.

Turning to see where Luffy's finger was pointing, both Ussop and Chopper gaped, open-mouthed at the towering ship that was moving toward them.

It had a giant snake for a figurehead and was at least twice the size of Thousand Sunny. Not to mention, as it came closer, Ussop could start to see its crew members, and they all looked female from his perspective. _'Where the heck did Luffy find something like this?'_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Are you sure you want to wait for him, Miss?" Merry asked his younger charge. "I feel he will be gone for quite some time."

Kaya and the curly haired butler stood on the beach as the first rays of the sun stretched over the sand. They watched as the small little boat almost disappeared on the horizon before meeting with a much larger one. The young woman stood silently for a long while, her soft gray eyes staring into the distance.

"I know, Merry." She finally said. "I know I won't get to see him but I couldn't make him stay. I could see it in his eyes this whole time. He's wanted to leave, back to the sea, for a while now. He and Chopper-sensei have to follow their dreams and I do too. Our paths may be separated now and I don't know how long it will take but we will meet up again someday."

Turning around her smile brightened with the rising sun. "We should probably go check on Kira, Aron, and Rajin and make sure they get home safely. I'm sure their parents are worried by now." Merry nodded and bent to pick up the still sleeping Dirk at his feet.

On one of the high cliffs overlooking the beach three young children sat in the morning light. They were beaten and bruised but laughing with each other.

Kira sat in-between her two friends, a dented metal pipe lying beside her in the grass. Rajin was to her right and Aron was at her left. The softer spoken twin was laid back on the ground and staring up at the sky.

"That was a good fight." Rajin said as he turned to grin at Kira and his brother.

"Of course it was," Kira answered, "we won. The fights you win are always good."

Rajin chuckled and Aron huffed on the other side. The other two looked over at him, the younger twin had a thoughtful frown on his face, and then he glanced over with a smile. "Ya know, those guys weren't so bad for evil, rampaging pirates. I actually can't wait to see them again, when we're real Marines."

"We'll be a lot stronger then." Rajin agreed.

"He'll probably be the Pirate King by then." Kira said slowly, then she grinned in determination. "We'll fight Pirate King Luffy and we'll be the ones to beat him." The purple haired young girl suddenly jumped to her feet and faced out toward the ocean. She took a deep breath, with her hands cupping her mouth, she yelled at the top of her voice.

"YOU HEAR THAT! WE'LL FIND YOU SOMEDAY AND BEAT YOU, PIRATE KING!"

=O=O=

*Hana-King = Nose-King

I'm so happy you guys know where the review button is. It's amazing what a little coaxing can do. =P

I'm joking of course. Thanks to everyone who took the time out of their busy schedule to indulge my selfish request for reviews. Just so you know I take every review to heart especially the ones offering sound criticisms and ideas. It's always a good thing to have another person's perspective on your work.

I have no idea how Nami's new disappearing mirage trick works but just go with it. By the way I absolutly love the Beli symbol belt she's sporting now so I have to figure a way for her to get it soon in my story cause it fits her so perfectly. hehe

Now I'm sure I'll have a fair share of flames for what I wrote at the start but I really think it's for the best. I'm not sure how long this working vacation of mine will last but I promise this is a story I won't give up on.


	8. Dear Readers

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for this not being what everyone wanted, which is a new chapter. Secondly, I want to apologize for having to be the bearer of bad news:

Reality, it seems, has taken a particular interest in hanging around me at the moment. As everyone should be aware, once reality sets in and gets comfortable, it's rather hard to get rid of. Kinda like that annoying cousin who just won't leave.

Due to these unfortunate circumstances, I'm having to place all my major unfinished work on hold, at least until I can effectively push aforementioned reality out the door. This means both One Summer Night and Starting Again (which I concede was on hold already). I have been slowly reworking that story with a friend of mine, especially the later chapters. However, due to recent events on this site they are in jeopardy of having to be replaced. This brings me to a very important issue I need to address with the administrators of this site.

If on some off chance one of them is reading this, I have one thing to say:

What you are doing is so absurdly stupid.

After ten years you suddenly decide to get off your thumbs and enforce a policy that hasn't been in effect for who knows how long. Why? Because a certain group of people are being offended? If that's the case, then I ask you this, where will it end? Where is the line in the sand?

For now its stories with "explicate content" and "graphic violence" mind you, there are some awesome stories out there that contain this certain aspect. What will be on the chopping block after this? Stories with too many swear words? How about all the Yaoi/Yuri fics? Are they gonna start disappearing next? Heaven knows how many people can be offended by all of those types of things.

To the certain group of people referred to above, I say only this:

If you don't like it, don't read it.

Thus ends my two cents on the subject. If this continues on the current course, I will be forced to find alternative means to publish my grown up fics.


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